Age of Consent in Samoa

What is the Samoa Age of Consent?

The Age of Consent in Samoa is 16 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 15 or younger in Samoa are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law.

Samoa statutory rape law is violated when an individual has consensual sexual contact with a girl under age 16. Defenses exist if the girl is at least 12, or is the male is under age 21 and ""had reasonable cause to believe, and did believe"" that the minor was at least 16 years old. There is a defense if the girl consented and was at least age 12. Although sodomy is illegal at any age, It is illegal for men over age 21 to commit indecent acts on boys under age 16, and the same is true for women and girls.

Samoa does not have a close-in-age exemption. Close in age exemptions, commonly known as "Romeo and Juliet laws" in the United States, are put in place to prevent the prosecution of individuals who engage in consensual sexual activity when both participants are significantly close in age to each other, and one or both partners are below the age of consent.

Because there is no close-in-age exemption in Samoa, it is possible for two individuals both under the age of 16 who willingly engage in intercourse to both be prosecuted for statutory rape, although this is rare. Similarly, no protections are reserved for sexual relations in which one participant is a 15 year old and the second is a 16 or 17 year old.

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