30 Years of the Age of Majority at 18

An 18-year-old casting a ballot. The ballot paper bears the name of the issuing country, 'Andorra'. The anniversary years '1985' and '2015' are struck to the left. The legend reads '30è ANIVERSARI MAJORIA D'EDAT ALS 18 ANYS' (30 Years of the Age of Majority at 18).

Andorra was long one of the few European states where the right to vote was granted only from the age of 21. This changed in 1985, when the co-principality lowered the voting age to 18 - a step that brought Andorra into line with the practice already widespread in Western Europe at the time and significantly expanded political participation for younger citizens. For a country of around 75,000 inhabitants, which only adopted its own constitution in 1993 and formalised democratic structures comparatively late, this change was especially significant: the reform came during a period in which Andorra was fundamentally modernising its institutional framework.

The step taken in 1985 is a typical example of a shift that took place in many Western democracies during the 1970s and 1980s - the lowering of the age of majority in response to societal debates on participation and intergenerational fairness. In Andorra, this development was closely tied to the opening up to international legal norms, a process the principality has pursued consistently ever since. In 2015, the introduction of voting rights for 18-year-olds marked its thirtieth anniversary - an occasion Andorra used to issue its 2-euro commemorative coin of 2016.