Getting a driver’s license is a rite of passage for many of America’s teenagers. (In most states, the age at which people can get a license is 16.) Earning a license usually includes taking a course to give new drivers the basics of road safety and driving rules. Generally, this is followed by a written test and then a test in which an official rates the driver on the road.
The difficulty of getting a license varies substantially from country to country. The United States is among the easiest countries in which to acquire a license, according to new research. Car driver test site Zutobi has just released a research report titled “The Easiest & Hardest Countries to Learn to Drive – Global Zutobi Index.”
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The universe of nations included in the story was 108. This was cut by several screens. These included countries that are Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members (38), those with a score of 8 or above on the human development index and nations with one of the top 50 largest gross domestic products in the world. This list was ranked based on these factors:
- Age you can drive.
- Cost of a driving test.
- Is a theory test required?
- Is a practical test required?
- Is an eye test required?
- Is a medical exam required?
- Hours of mandatory lessons to take the test.
Countries were rated on a scale of 1 to 10. The higher the score, the easier the test. Mexico topped the list of easiest countries to get a driver’s license. The primary reason is the lack of strict tests. Throughout most of the country, there is no practical test to get a license. Instead, there is only a “theory” test. Until 2018, there were no tests of any kind. People can get a driver’s license at age 15. Mexico had a score of 8.48.
Next on this list is Qatar, which allows people who are 14 to get a license. Latvia follows, and it has among the lowest costs to get a driver’s license among all the nations rated. The United States is the fourth, because people who apply for a license do not have to have a set number of hours of driving before the test.
These are the 10 easiest countries to get a driver’s license:
- Mexico (8.48)
- Qatar (7.39)
- Latvia (7.03)
- United States (6.95)
- Canada (6.93)
- Estonia (6.92)
- Barbados (6.90)
- Indonesia (6.87)
- Philippines (6.86)
- France (6.79)
Click here to see which cities have the best and worst commutes.
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