PG-13, 12A, UA 13+: How Film Age Ratings Work Around the World

Before a film starts, a small symbol often appears on screen or on the poster: PG-13, 12A, UA 13+, M or FSK 12. Most of us barely notice it. But that symbol decides who can buy a ticket, and it’s the result of a group of people watching the film closely and debating every scene.

Each country does this differently, which is why the same film can carry a different rating depending on where you see it.

Who decides

There are two main approaches.

• A government body, under the law. In India, films shown in cinemas must be certified by the Central Board of Film Certification under the Cinematograph Act, 1952. Australia’s ratings come from the government’s Classification Board.
• An industry body. In the US, ratings are given by the Classification and Rating Administration, run by the Motion Picture Association, a group of film studios. The system is voluntary, but most cinemas agree to enforce it. In the UK, the British Board of Film Classification is an independent, non-profit body. Its ratings have legal force for video releases, and local councils, which license cinemas, almost always follow them. Germany’s FSK is a voluntary self-regulation body of the film industry, whose ratings are backed by youth protection law.

The raters are usually a panel of trained examiners, and in the US, a group of parents. They look at things such as violence, sex, nudity, language, drug use and frightening scenes, and how strong, frequent and realistic they are.

One film can be a PG-13 in Los Angeles, a 12A in London and a UA 13+ in Mumbai.

The main ratings in five countries

Some of these are easy to misread:

• PG-13 (US) is a strong warning to parents that some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. It isn’t a legal ban, so younger children can still be let in.
• 12A (UK) means children under 12 can see the film in a cinema only with an adult. On DVD or download, the same film is rated 12, which is legally limited to people aged 12 and over.
• UA 7+, UA 13+ and UA 16+ (India) replaced the single old UA rating in 2024. They are guidance for parents, not bans. Only the A rating, for adults aged 18 and over, is legally restricted.
• MA15+ (Australia) is legally restricted: under-15s must be with a parent or adult guardian.

Why the same film gets different ratings

Each country’s system reflects what its people tend to worry about most. It’s often said, for example, that the US system is stricter about sex and strong language than about violence, while many European systems are stricter about violence than about nudity. Raters also consider context: a fight in a historical drama may be treated differently from realistic violence in a modern setting.

Studios sometimes cut or change scenes to get a lower rating in a particular country, because a younger audience can mean many more tickets sold. So the version you see in one country can be slightly different from the version shown elsewhere.

What about streaming?

Streaming services operate across many countries at once. They usually show the official rating for your country where one exists, and use their own age labels, based on similar guidelines, for shows and films that haven’t been rated locally. In some countries, such as India, the law requires streaming services to classify their content themselves into age-based categories.

The most useful tool for parents is usually the service’s own parental controls: separate children’s profiles, a maximum age rating for each profile, and a PIN to stop children switching profiles.