The Age of Consent in Sweden is 15 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 14 or younger in Sweden are not legally able to consent to sexual activity, and such activity may result in prosecution for statutory rape or the equivalent local law.
Sweden statutory rape law is violated when an individual has consensual sexual contact with a person under age 15. The age of consent rises to 18 when the victim "" is offspring to the perpetrator or in the perpetrator's care or in a similar relationship to the perpetrator, or for whose care or guardianship the perpetrator is responsible due to the decision of a government agency"". A close in age exemption exists, if "" it is obvious that the act is no violation of the child considered the small difference in age between the person who carries out the act and the child and other circumstances"".
Sweden 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 Sweden 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.