When did the age of voting change?

The voting age in many areas has been changed to reflect the popular opinion of the time. When it is lowered, this is normally a liberal action - intending to create more opportunity for everybody, allowing younger people to have more of a say in what the government will be, etc. - and when raised it is usually a more conservative action - younger people do not have the wisdom and experience to know what is best for them, nor do they understand politics well enough to vote properly.

Of all the countries in the world with voting rights, only 21 have an age above 18 with a few of these also restricting suffrage to males only, and 18 more have a voting age lower than 18, with several more considering a drop as well. As expected, this is a general change in the liberal direction - typical of changing attitudes in the today's world towards equality and rights - with a lowering in most cases from the original age of 21 and males only.