Age of Consent in Panama

What is the Panama Age of Consent?

The Age of Consent in Panama is 18 years old. The age of consent is the minimum age at which an individual is considered legally old enough to consent to participation in sexual activity. Individuals aged 17 or younger in Panama are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law.

Panama statutory rape law is violated when an individual has consensual sexual intercourse with a person under age 18, although teens aged 14-17 can sometimes legally consent. There is a close in age exemption allowing these teens to consent to a partner no more than 5 years older and so long as they are in a ""couple"" relationship.

Panama has a close-in-age exemption. A close in age exemptions, commonly known as "Romeo and Juliet law" in the United States, is a law designed to prevent the prosecution of underage couples who engage in consensual sex when both participants are significantly close in age to each other, and one or both are below the age of consent.

Depending on the situation, the Panama close-in-age exemption may completely exempt qualifying close-in-age couples from the age of consent law, or merely provide a legal defence that can be used in the event of prosecution.

Age of Consent across the world

The Age of Consent ranges from as low as 11 to as high as 20 years old across the world. Click any country for details, or view countries with the highest & lowest ages of consent.

Age of Consent Map:

Must be married

< 13 years old

14 years old

15 years old

16 years old

17 years old

18 years old

> 19 years old

Back to list of international ages of consent View state ages of consent in the USA