That depends on the state. The larger states tend to trend towards older.
California, ~39 million. 18 Texas, ~30 million. 17 Florida, ~23 million. 18 NY, ~20 million. 18
Pennsylvania at about 13 million is the first in population to see 16…
over 1/3rd of the country is represented in the top 4 states there… and all would say that 16 is not normal…
According to wikipedia 31 states in the US put age of consent at 16.
And in Europe Wikipedia says “only four countries, Cyprus (17), the Republic of Ireland (17), Turkey (18), and the Vatican City (18), set an age of consent higher than 16.”. Which would account for more than 600 million people.
From a western point of view it’s pretty normal. You’ll still get weird look if you’re 20+ and dating a 16 year old, but that’s besides the point we’re arguing.
I understand… I’m making the point that it’s not “that” normal for US. I don’t know about the EU in this context as I never looked.
those 31 states account for less than 45% of the USA…
the numbers come out to something like this…
16: 44.9%
17: 24.5%
18: 30.6%
The number is certainly much closer to 17 years old than 16 as the “normal” here.
