Universal suffrage (also universal adult suffrage, general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, intelligence, or economic or social status. Universal suffrage in colloquial speech often indicates nearly universal suffrage; for example, according to the CIA World Factbook, the United States is considered to have universal suffrage despite the fact that roughly 5.3 million of its citizens cannot vote due to felony convictions. (see disenfranchisement)

In the first modern democracies only a limited number of people had a say in the running of the government - for example in the United Kingdom only Protestant, male landowners with relatively large holdings had the right to vote. Suffrage depended on local custom before 1832, so there were exceptions. In all modern democracies the number of people who could vote increased gradually with time. The 19th century featured movements advocating universal male suffrage - the extension to all males regardless of social standing or race. The democratic movement of the late 19th century, unifying Liberals and Social Democrats, particularly in northern Europe, used the slogan Equal and Common Suffrage. The Movement for Universal Suffrage consisted of a social, economic and political movement aimed at extending suffrage to people of all races.