Four out of every five secondary school students (11-15 year olds) believe the sexual age of consent should be lowered to 16, a new survey has found.
Research conducted by the National Youth Council, KNZ, found that 16 was the preferred age of sexual consent among all youths, except for those aged 31 and over.
The debate on lowering the age of consent has popped up in the national media repeatedly over the years, however, government Whip Godfrey Farrugia last summer said he expected a consensus on lowering it to 16 by the end of the year.
According to the survey, conducted among youths aged between 11 and 36, the most common reason for wanting to lower the age at which a person can legally agree to have sex was the belief that young people would be able to make an informed decision. Two thirds also believed that 16 was old enough to say no to sex.
The research, an online questionnaire, quizzed some 680 youths on the age of consent. More than 90 per cent knew the current age of consent (18) and three quarters had heard of the possibility of this being lowered.
The majority of respondents, 55 per cent, claimed that the appropriate age would be 16. A third thought the appropriate age was 18, while four per cent and six per cent ticked 14 and 20 respectively.
Nearly two thirds believed that a change in the age of sexual consent would not encourage young people to engage in sexual activity
Asked about the financial means of 16-year-olds, a quarter of respondents claimed they would have enough money to buy contraceptives. Only 12 per cent thought that young people would have the financial means and ability to maintain a child.
Nearly two thirds believed that a change in the age of sexual consent would not encourage young people to engage in sexual activity. However the rest thought the opposite.
A World Health Organisation study on secondary school students in Malta had found 44 per cent had already engaged in sexual activities before the age of consent. Nearly three quarters of sexually active young men did not use a condom and 66 per cent did not use the pill.