How old do you need to be to buy a drink?

If you are old enough to vote, are you old enough to buy a bottle of wine?

The answer is that it varies wildly depending on where you are on the globe, the drinks business reported this week. See https://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/

There are hugely different ideas about what constitutes adulthood, and what you can do when you achieve that landmark.

Some countries set no age limit at all for buying alcohol, others insist on 18, and a few insist on 21 - an age at which young folk are routinely sent to die for their country.

The World Health Organisation says Burkina Faso is often cited as having the world’s youngest legal drinking age - effectively 13, though enforcement is minimal and the law rarely applied.

Many European countries, including Germany, Austria, Denmark, Belgium, Luxembourg and Switzerland, allow 16-year-olds to purchase beer and wine. Spirits, however, are restricted until 18.

Malta is unusual in having set its legal drinking age at 17 since 2009, when it was raised from 16. It represents a compromise, designed to curb school-age drinking without removing what had become a social norm.

Eighteen is by far the most common legal drinking age worldwide. It is the standard in much of Europe (France, Spain, Italy), Latin America (Brazil, Argentina, Mexico), Africa (Kenya, South Africa) and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand).

The reasoning is that 18 is the age of legal majority in many places, when individuals may vote, marry, sign contracts, and, logically, consume alcohol.

Canada's rules depend on the jurisdiction, with most provinces at 19 and a handful at 18, while the US has enforced 21 nationwide since 1984, credited with reducing drink-driving fatalities. The rule means Americans can vote, marry and serve in the military at 18, but cannot legally buy alcohol for another three years.

Several other countries, including Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and various Pacific islands, also opt for 21, often driven by religious or cultural attitudes.

Then, of course, in some countries, alcohol is illegal regardless of age, rendering any “legal drinking age” irrelevant. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, Somalia, Sudan, Brunei and the Maldives operate complete bans, often grounded in religious law.

Image: Giuseppe Lombardo, Scop.io