About:
- For years activists had called upon the government to raise the age of consent in the Philippines.
- Until now, it had one of the lowest ages of consent in the world, with roughly one in five children experiencing sexual violence.
Age of consent in other countries
- In India, The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012, defines a “child” as anyone below 18 years of age, and hence, engaging in sexual activity with a ‘child’ is considered sexual assault.
- With the Philippines’ new law, the age of consent remains lowest in Angola at 12 years.
- According to data provided by the World Population Review, Japan has the age of consent at 13, and countries like China, Germany, Italy and Brazil have it as 14.
- In the United States, the age of consent is decided by states individually and varies between 16 to 18. The United Kingdom, too, has 16 as its age of consent.
