The legal age of consent for sexual activity varies by jurisdiction across Asia. The specific activity engaged in or the gender of participants can also be relevant factors. Below is a discussion of the various laws dealing with this subject. The highlighted age refers to an age at or above which an individual can engage in unfettered sexual relations with another who is also at or above that age.
Other variables, such as homosexual relations or close in age exceptions, may exist, and are noted when relevant. The unrestricted age of consent is the legal age from which one is deemed able to consent to having sex with anyone else at or above the age of consent, or the marriageable age if they must be married. The lowest unrestricted age of consent in Asia is the onset of puberty , though this is only the case in Afghanistan.
The highest unrestricted age of consent is 21, though this age of consent is only the case in Bahrain and the specific instance of females receiving anal sex in Hong Kong. Disregarding these exceptions, the unrestricted ages of consent in Asia range between 13 and All jurisdictions in Asia per List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Asia :.
Sexual activity outside marriage is illegal in Afghanistan. According to the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice , marriage is allowed at puberty. Sexual intercourse or other sexual acts with a person obviously under 16, by a person who reached 18 years of age, in the absence of elements of crime envisaged in Articles , or of this Code, is punished with correctional labor for the term of up to 2 years, or with imprisonment for the term of up to 2 years.
Sexual intercourse with the person below the age of 16 years, as well as the same offences linked with satisfaction of sexual passion in perverted forms shall be punished by imprisonment up to 3 years. They are also given the liberty to drop off the charge after filing it if they wanted to. However, the mentioned options would not be available after three months are passed from when the person learned about the adultery.
