Marriageable age

Marriageable age, marriage age, or the age of marriage is the general age, a legal age or the minimum age subject to parental, religious or other forms of social approval, at which a person is legitimately allowed for marriage. Age and other prerequisites to marriage vary between jurisdictions, but in the vast majority of jurisdictions, the marriage age as a right is set at the age of majority. Nevertheless, most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, especially if the female is pregnant. Among most indigenous cultures, people marry at fifteen, the age of sexual maturity for both the male and the female. In industrialized cultures, the age of marriage is most commonly 18 years old, but there are variations, and the marriageable age should not be confused with the age of majority or the age of consent, though they may be the same.

The 55 parties to the 1962 Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages have agreed to specify a minimum marriage age by statute law‚ to override customary, religious, tribal laws and traditions. When the marriageable age under a law of a religious community is lower than that under the law of the land, the state law prevails. However, some religious communities do not accept the supremacy of state law in this respect, which may lead to child marriage or forced marriage. The 123 parties to the 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery have agreed to adopt a prescribed "suitable" minimum age for marriage. In many developing countries, the official age prescriptions stand as mere guidelines. UNICEF, the United Nations children's organization, regards a marriage of a minor (legal child), a person below the adult age, as child marriage and a violation of rights.

Until recently, the minimum marriageable age for females was lower in many jurisdictions than for males, on the premise that females mature at an earlier age than males. This law has been viewed by some to be discriminatory, so that in many countries the marriageable age of females has been raised to equal that of males.

History and social attitudes

Classical antiquity

Greece

In Greece females married as young as 14 or 16. In Spartan marriages, females were around 18 and males were around 25.

Rome

In the Roman Empire, the Emperor Augustus introduced marriage legislation, the Lex Papia Poppaea, which rewarded marriage and childbearing. The legislation also imposed penalties for both men and women who remained unmarried, or who married but for whatever reason failed to have children. For men it is between the ages of 25 and 60 while for women it is between ages 20 and 50. Women who were Vestal Virgins were selected between the ages of 6 and 10 to serve as priestesses in the temple of goddess Vesta in the Roman Forum for 30 years, after which they could marry.

Noblewomen were known to marry as young as 12 years of age, whereas women in the lower social classes were more likely to marry slightly further into their teenage years. The father had the right and duty to seek a good and useful match for his children, and might arrange a child's betrothal long before he or she came of age (age of maturity). To further the interests of their birth families, daughters of the elite would marry into respectable families. If a daughter could prove the proposed husband to be of bad character, she could legitimately refuse the match

In Roman law, age of majority varied from being 25 or as high as 30, though the age of marriage was 12 years for females and 14 years for males, and age of betrothal was 7 years for both males and females. The age of lawful consent to a marriage was 12 for girls and 14 for boys.

Ancient Roman law required brides to be at least 12 years old. In ancient Roman law, first marriages to brides aged 12–25 required the consent of the bride and her father, but by the late antique period, Roman law permitted women over 25 to marry without parental consent.^: 29–37

Historically, individuals were allowed to enter into a marriage contract at a very young age. This coincided with signs of puberty, such as the start of menstruation for a female and the growth of pubic hair for a male. In Ancient Rome, the appropriate minimum age for marriage was regarded as 14 for males and 12 for females.

43% of Pagan females married as young as 12-15 years and 42% of Christian females married as young as 9-12 years.

In late antiquity, most Roman women married in their late teens to early twenties, but noble women married younger than those of the lower classes, as an aristocratic girl was expected to be virgin until her first marriage. In late antiquity, under Roman law, daughters inherited equally from their parents if no will was produced.^: 63 In addition, Roman law recognized wives' property as legally separate from husbands' property,^{: 133–154} as did some legal systems in parts of Europe and colonial Latin America.

In 380 C.E., the Emperor Theodosius issued the Edict of Thessalonica, which made Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Holy See adapted Roman law into Canon law.

Medieval Europe

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the rise of the Holy Roman Empire, manorialism also helped weaken the ties of kinship and thus the power of clans. As early as the 9th century in northwestern France, families that worked on manors were small, consisting of parents and children and occasionally a grandparent. The Roman Catholic Church and State had become allies in erasing the solidarity and thus the political power of the clans; the Roman Catholic Church sought to replace traditional religion, whose vehicle was the kin group, and substitute the authority of the elders of the kin group with that of a religious elder. At the same time, the king's rule was undermined by revolts by the most powerful kin groups, clans or sections, whose conspiracies and murders threatened the power of the state and also the demands by manorial Lords for obedient, compliant workers.

As the peasants and serfs lived and worked on farms that they rented from the lord of the manor, they also needed the permission of the lord to marry. Couples therefore had to comply with the lord of the manor and wait until a small farm became available before they could marry and thus produce children. Those who could and did not delay marriage were presumably rewarded by the landlord and those who did not marry were presumably denied that reward. For example, marriage ages in Medieval England varied depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until their early twenties when times were bad, but might marry in their late teens after the Black Death, when there was a severe labour shortage;^: 96 by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England.^: 98–100

In medieval Western Europe, the rise of Catholicism and manorialism had both created incentives to keep families nuclear, and thus the age of marriage increased; the Western Church instituted marriage laws and practices that undermined large kinship groups. The Roman Catholic Church prohibited consanguineous marriages, a marriage pattern that had been a means to maintain clans (and thus their power) throughout history. The Roman Catholic Church curtailed arranged marriages in which the bride did not clearly agree to the union.

Male and female adolescents needed parental consent to marry because they were under the age of majority, 21 years old. In the 12th century, the Roman Catholic Church drastically changed legal standards for marital consent by allowing daughters over 12 years old and sons over 14 years old to marry without their parents' approval, even if their marriage was made clandestinely. Parish studies have confirmed that in the late medieval period, females did sometimes marry without their parents' approval in England.

In the 12th century, Canon law jurist Gratian, stated that consent for marriage could not take place before the age of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males; also, consent for betrothal could not take place before the age of 7 years old for females and males, as that is the age of reason. The Church of England, after breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, carried with it the same minimum age requirements. Age of consent for marriage of 12 years old for girls and of 14 years old for boys were written into English civil law.

The first recorded age-of-consent law, in England, dates back 800 years. The age of consent law in question has to do with the law of rape and not the law of marriage as sometimes misunderstood. In 1275, in England, as part of the rape law, the Statute of Westminster 1275, made it a misdemeanor to have sex with a "maiden within age", whether with or without her consent. The phrase "within age" was interpreted by jurist Sir Edward Coke as meaning the age of marriage, which at the time was 12 years old. A 1576 law was created with more severe punishments for having sex with a girl for which the age of consent was set at 10 years old. Under English common law the age of consent, as part of the law of rape, was 10 or 12 years old and rape was defined as forceful sexual intercourse with a woman against her will. To convict a man of rape, both force and lack of consent had to be proved, except in the case of a girl who is under the age of consent. Since the age of consent applied in all circumstances, not just in physical assaults, the law also made it impossible for an underage girl (under 12 years old) to consent to sexual activity. There was one exception: a man's acts with his wife (females over 12 years old), to which rape law did not apply. Jurist Sir Matthew Hale stated that both rape laws were valid at the same time. In 1875, the Offence Against the Persons Act raised the age to 13 years in England; an act of sexual intercourse with a girl younger than 13 was a felony.

There were some fathers who arranged marriages for a son or a daughter before he or she reached the age of maturity, which is similar to what some fathers in ancient Rome did. Consummation would not take place until the age of maturity. Roman Catholic Canon law defines a marriage as consummated when the "spouses have performed between themselves in a human fashion a conjugal act which is suitable in itself for the procreation of offspring, to which marriage is ordered by its nature and by which the spouses become one flesh." There are recorded marriages of two- and three-year-olds: in 1564, a three-year-old named John was married to a two-year-old named Jane in the Bishop's Court in Chester, England.

Modern history

The policy of the Roman Catholic Church, and later various protestant churches, of considering clandestine marriages and marriages made without parental consent to be valid was controversial, and in the 16th century both the French monarchy and the Lutheran Church sought to end these practices, with limited success.

In most of Northwestern Europe, marriages at very early ages were rare. One thousand marriage certificates from 1619 to 1660 in the Archdiocese of Canterbury show that only one bride was 13 years old, four were 15, twelve were 16, and seventeen were 17 years old; while the other 966 brides were at least 19 years old.

In England and Wales, the Marriage Act 1753 required a marriage to be covered by a licence (requiring parental consent for those under 21) or the publication of bans (which parents of those under 21 could forbid). Additionally, the Church of England dictated that both the bride and groom must be at least 21 years of age to marry without the consent of their families. In the certificates, the most common age for the brides is 22 years. For the grooms 24 years was the most common age, with average ages of 24 years for the brides and 27 for the grooms. While European noblewomen often married early, they were a small minority of the population, and the marriage certificates from Canterbury show that even among nobility it was very rare to marry women off at very early ages.

The minimum age requirements of 12 and 14 were eventually written into English civil law. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. On the average, marriages occurred several years earlier in colonial America than in Europe, and much higher proportions of the population eventually got married. Community-based studies suggest an average age at marriage of about 20 years old for women in the early colonial period and about 26 years old for men. In the late 19th century and throughout the 20th century, U.S. states began to slowly raise the minimum legal age at which individuals were allowed to marry. Age restrictions, as in most developed countries, have been revised upward so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age.

Before 1929, the Scottish law adopted the Roman law in allowing a girl to marry at twelve years of age and a boy at fourteen, without any requirement for parental consent. However, in practice, marriages in Scotland at such young ages was almost unknown.

France

In France, until the French Revolution, the marriageable age was 12 years for females and 14 for males. Revolutionary legislation in 1792 increased the age to 13 years for females and 15 for males. Under the Napoleonic Code in 1804, the marriageable age was set at 15 years old for females and 18 years old for males. In 2006, the marriageable age for females was increased to 18, the same as for males. In jurisdictions where the ages are not the same, the marriageable age for females is more commonly two or three years lower than that of males.

Central Europe

In 17th century Poland, in the Warsaw parish of St John, the average age of women entering marriage was 20.1, and that of men was 23.7. In the second half of the eighteenth century, women in the parish of Holy Cross married at 21.8, while men at 29.

Eastern Europe

In medieval Eastern Europe, the Slavic traditions of patrilocality of early and universal marriage (usually of a bride aged 13–15 years, with menarche occurring on average at age 14) lingered; the manorial system had yet to penetrate into Eastern Europe and generally had less effect on clan systems there. The bans on cross-cousin marriages had also not been firmly enforced.

In Russia, before 1830 the age of consent for marriage was 15 years old for males and 13 years old for females (though 15 years old was preferred for females, so much so that it was written into the Law Code of 1649).Teenage marriage was practised for chastity. Both the female and the male teenager needed consent of their parents to marry because they were under 20 years old, the age of majority. In 1830, the age of consent for marriage was raised to 18 years old for males and 16 years old for females Though 18 years old was preferred for females, the average age of marriage for females was around 19 years old.

Mesoamerica

Aztec society

Aztec family law generally followed customary law. Men got married between the ages of 20-22, and women generally got married at 15 to 18 years of age.

Mayan civilization

Maya family law appears to have been based on customary law. Maya men and women usually got married at around the age of 20, though women sometimes got married at the age of 16 or 17.

Marriageable age as a right vs exceptions

In majority of countries, a right to marry at age 18 is enshrined along with all other rights and responsibilities of adulthood. However, most of these countries allow those younger than that age to marry, usually with parental consent or judicial authorization. These exceptions vary considerably by country. The United Nations Population Fund stated:

In 2010, 158 countries reported that 18 years was the minimum legal age for marriage for women without parental consent or approval by a pertinent authority. However, in 146 [of those] countries, state or customary law allows girls younger than 18 to marry with the consent of parents or other authorities; in 52 countries, girls under age 15 can marry with parental consent. In contrast, 18 is the legal age for marriage without consent among males in 180 countries. Additionally, in 105 countries, boys can marry with the consent of a parent or a pertinent authority, and in 23 countries, boys under age 15 can marry with parental consent.

In recent years, many countries in the EU have tightened their marriage laws, either banning marriage under 18 completely, or requiring judicial approval for such marriages. Countries which have reformed their marriage laws in recent years include Sweden (2014), Denmark (2017), Germany (2017), Luxembourg (2014), Spain (2015), Netherlands (2015), Finland (2019) and Ireland (2019). Many developing countries have also enacted similar laws in recent years: Honduras (2017), Ecuador (2015), Costa Rica (2017), Panama (2015), Trinidad & Tobago (2017), Malawi (2017).

The minimum age requirements of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males were written into English civil law. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. This English common law inherited from the British remained in force in America unless a specific state law was enacted to replace them. In the United States, as in most developed countries, age restrictions have been revised upward so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age.

In Western countries, marriages of teenagers have become rare in recent years, with their frequency declining during the past few decades. For instance, in Finland, where in the early 21st century underage youth could obtain a special judicial authorization to marry, there were only 30–40 such marriages per year during that period (with most of the spouses being aged 17), while in the early 1990s, more than 100 such marriages were registered each year. Since 1 June 2019 Finland has banned marriages of anyone under 18 with no exemptions.

Relation to the age of majority

Marriage age as a right is usually the same with the age of majority which is 18 years old in most countries. However, in some countries, the age of majority is under 18, while in others it is 19, 20 or 21 years. In Canada for example, the age of majority is 19 in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut. Marriage under 19 years in these provinces requires parental or court consent (see Marriage in Canada). In USA for example, the age of majority is 21 in Mississippi and 19 in Nebraska and requires parental consent. In many jurisdictions of North America, marriages by marriage minors become legally emancipated.

By country

Africa

Country	Without parental or judicial consent		With parental consent		With judicial consent		Notes
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Algeria	19				None		(Article 7 of the Family Code)
Angola	18		16	15	–
Benin	18				None
Botswana	18				–
Burkina Faso	20		20	17	18	15
Burundi	21			18	–
Cameroon	21		18	15	–
Central African Republic	18		13
Chad	18
Democratic Republic of Congo	18
Djibouti	18				None
Egypt	18
Equatorial Guinea	18		14
Eritrea	18
Eswatini	21		18	16	–
Ethiopia	18				16
Gabon	21		18	15	–
Guinea	21		18		–
Guinea-Bissau	18
Ivory Coast	21		20	18	–
Kenya	18						As per section 4, Marriage Act 2014.
Lesotho	21		18	16	–
Liberia	21	18	18	16	–
Libya	20				None
Mauritius	18		16		–
Madagascar	18
Mali	18	16	18	16	15
Mauritania	18				None
Morocco	18				None
Mozambique	18		18		–		In July 2019, Mozambique passed a law to ban child marriage outright. It was signed by the President on 14 October 2019 and it became a law after being published in "Boletim da República" on 22 October.
Namibia	21		18		None		Under the age of 18 with the written permission of the Minister or any staff member in the Public Service authorized by the Minister.
Niger	21		18	15	–
Nigeria	18
Republic of the Congo	21	18	21	18	None
Rwanda	21
São Tomé and Príncipe	18		16	14	–
Senegal	18			16	–
Sierra Leone	18
Somalia	18			16	–
South Africa	18			15	None		Under the Marriage Act, 1961, parental consent is required for the marriage of a party under the age of majority, which was formerly 21 but is now 18. The special consent of the Minister of Home Affairs is also required for the marriage of a girl under the age of 15 or a boy under the age of 18. Under the Civil Union Act, 2006, which allows for same-sex or opposite-sex marriages, both parties must be 18 or older. Under the Recognition of Customary Marriages Act, 1998, a customary marriage entered into after the passage of the act will only be recognised if both parties were 18 or older.
South Sudan	18
Sudan	Puberty				10		The Personal Status Law of Muslims, 1991, allows the marriage of a girl from puberty. Ten years-olds can be married with judicial authorization. The Marriage of Non-Muslims Act of 1926 sets the age of marriage at 13 for non-Muslim girls, and 15 for non-Muslim boys.
Tanzania	18			15	14
Togo	18				16
Tunisia	18
Uganda	18
Zambia	21		18		–		In 2023 marriages under 18 banned.
Zimbabwe	18						In 2016, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Marriage Act, which permitted girls (not boys) aged 16 to be married with their parents' consent, was unconstitutional and recognised 18 years as the legal minimum age of marriage.

Americas

Country	Without parental or judicial consent		With parental consent		With judicial consent		Notes
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Antigua and Barbuda	18		15		–		Section 25 of The Marriage Act reads: "A marriage solemnized between persons either of whom is under the age of fifteen shall be null and void."
Argentina	18		16		None		(Art 403 and 404 of Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación).
Bahamas	18		15		None		The Marriage Act (1908) provides no minimum age with judicial consent; the age with parental consent is 15 (Marriage Act, Sec. 20(2), 50 and Schedule M).
Barbados	18		16		–
Belize	18		16		–		with parental consent (The Belize Marriage (Amendment) Act of 2005 increased the minimum age from 14 to 16).
Bolivia	18		16				(Article 139 of the new Civil Code of 2014).
Brazil	18		16
Canada	18/19		16				Marriage in Canada is governed by both federal and provincial laws. The minimum age to marry is set at 16 by a federal statute, the Civil Marriage Act, which states: "No person who is under the age of 16 years may contract marriage." In addition, the provinces may impose procedural requirements for the marriage of a minor who is over 16 but under the age of majority (18 or 19), such as requiring parental consent or permission from a judge. The Criminal Code also prohibits marriage under the age of 16: "Everyone who celebrates, aids or participates in a marriage rite or ceremony knowing that one of the persons being married is under the age of 16 years is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding five years."
Chile	18						Since 2022, the minimum age is 18.
Colombia	18		14		–
Costa Rica	18
Cuba	18						Since 2022, the minimum age is 18.
Dominica	18		16		–
Dominican Republic	18						Since 2021, the minimum age is 18.
Ecuador	18						Since 2015, the minimum age is 18.
El Salvador	18						Since 2017, the minimum age is 18.
Grenada	21		16		–
Guatemala	18				16
Guyana	18		16		–
Haiti	18			15	–
Honduras	18						Since 2017, the minimum age is 18. Before 2017 females could marry from 16, with parental consent.
Jamaica	18		16		–
Mexico	18						Varies by state. The General Law on the Rights of Children and Adolescents 2014 establishes 18 years as the general age of marriage, but allows girls to marry at 14 and boys at 16 with parental consent. At state level, as of May 2017, 22 states have made marriage before 18 illegal, while another ten allow it under certain circumstances. As of June 1, 2020 marriageable age in all states is 18 without exceptions.
Nicaragua	18		16		–		Under the new 2014 Código de Familia, Articles 54, 57(a) and 58(c).
Panama	18						Since 2015, the minimum age is 18; prior to that date girls could marry from age 14 years and boys from age 16, with parental consent.
Paraguay	18		16		–
Peru	18		16		–
Puerto Rico	21		18		None		(Younger parties may obtain license in case of pregnancy or birth of child), and 18 with parental consent. Puerto Rico is a territory of the United States.
Saint Kitts and Nevis	18
Saint Lucia	18		16		–
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	18		–		–
Suriname	21		17	15	–
Trinidad and Tobago	18						Since 2017, the minimum age is 18.
United States	18 in most states/territories 19 in Nebraska 21 in Mississippi 21 in Puerto Rico		Varies by state				The minimum marriageable age requirements of 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males were written into English civil law. By default, these provisions became the minimum marriage ages in colonial America. English common law inherited from the British remained in force in America unless a specific state law was enacted to replace them. In the United States, as in most developed countries, age restrictions have been revised upward so that they are now between 15 and 21 years of age. Minors under 18 cannot marry in the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. This also holds true for the territories of the U.S. Virgin Islands and American Samoa.
Uruguay	18		16		–
Venezuela	18		16				Articles 18, 46, 59–65 of the Civil Code, decision of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice.

Asia

Country	Without parental or judicial consent		With parental consent		With judicial consent		Notes
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Afghanistan	Puberty
Armenia	18						The age was set at 18 for both sexes in 2012, prior to that date it was 17 for females and 18 for males. On June 7, 2024, the law on marriage exceptions was repealed. Previously, marriage at the age of 17 was permitted with the consent of the parents, and at the age of 16 - with the consent of the parents and provided that the other willing spouse had reached the age of at least 18 years.
Azerbaijan	18				17		17 in special cases with judicial authorization. (Article 10 of the Family Code). The marriageable age for females was raised in 2011 to 18, equalizing it to that of males; prior to that date it was 17 years.
Bangladesh	21	18	None				Bangladeshi law provides penal sanctions for the contraction of under-age marriages, although such unions are not considered invalid. Despite the law, child marriage rates in Bangladesh are among the highest in the world. Every 2 out of 3 marriages involve child marriages.
Bhutan	18
Brunei	18		14				Minimum legal age for marriage without parental consent varies across states/provinces, ethnic groups, religious groups or forms of marriage.
Cambodia	18
China	22	20	22	20	–		China is the only country to have the highest set marriageable age for men. The sign painted on a building in a village in Hubei, China, informs of the marriageable age in the country (22 for men, 20 for women).
Cyprus	18		16				16 with parental consent, if there are serious reasons for the marriage.
East Timor	17		16		–
Georgia	18						Since 2017, marriage under 18 is prohibited.
Hong Kong	21		16		–
India	21	18 (proposed to be 21)	-				The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 (PCMA) provides that the minimum age of marriage is 21 years in case of males, and 18 years in case of females. The proposal to amend the 2006 Act was placed in Lok Sabha in December 2021. It was referred to The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports (EWCY&S) under the Chairpersonship of Dr. Vinay P. Sahasrabuddhe. The Bill proposes to amend the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006, to reinforce its application in relation to marriage; bring women at par with men in terms of marriageable age; prohibit child marriage; make consequential amendments to the other laws relating to marriage; and other connected matters. The PCMA prevails in India till the new Amendment is passed.In short, the minimum age of marriage is 21 years in case of males, and 18 years in case of females. India has been at the forefront in the battle against child marriage since 1929, when the practice of child marriage (below 14 for girls and 18 for boys) was first legally prohibited through the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 replaced the 1929 Act, with the same minimum age limits. On 30th of November, 2022, The High court of Jharkhand reported that a Muslim Woman can marry a person of her choice after attaining 15 years.
Indonesia	21		19		None		The 2019 Revision of the Marriage Law (1974) raised the marriage age for female from 16 to 19 years, equalizing it to that of males. However, grooms and brides under the age of 21 are required to get their parents' permission before marriage. While parents can ask the court to grant permission in the case of the grooms or the brides under the age of 19, the revision stipulated that the court can grant such permission only if there are urgent reasons as well as supporting evidences to back them. The law revision also stresses that the court must consider the spirit of preventing child marriage, as well as moral, religious, cultural, psychological, and health considerations before granting the permission.
Iran	18	15	15	13	None		Ways around these regulations include temporary marriages (Nikah mut'ah). With the permission of a court girls may marry at a younger age. In 2010 as many as 42,000 children aged between 10 and 14 years were married, and 716 girls younger than 10 had wed.
Iraq	18				15		15 with judicial permission if fitness, physical capacity and guardian's consent (or unreasonable objection on part of guardian) are established. (These rules may have been revised after Saddam Hussein's fall.^[])
Israel	18				16		Minimum marriageable age increased from 17 to 18 years in November 2013. Family courts are able to recognise marriage for 16 years and above in special cases.
Japan	18				–
Jordan	18						The legal minimum age to marry in Jordan is 18, with no restrictions, but is set at 15 years with parental/guardian consent, for both males and females.
Kazakhstan	18		17		16
Kuwait	17	15	–				^[]
Kyrgyzstan	18				17		Local self-government agencies may, at the request of the parties entering the marriage, provided that justifiable reasons exist, lower the marriage age. The marriage age may not be lowered by more than 1 year.
Laos	18		15		–
Lebanon	18	17	17	15	15	14	18 or 17 years and 16 or 15 years with judicial permission for Druze.
Macau	18		16				Articles 1478, 1479 and 1482 of the Civil Code.
Malaysia	21		18			16	A special marriage licence granted by the Chief Minister must be obtained for female sixteen (16) years and above but under the age of eighteen (18) years.
Maldives	18		16				According to custom, the minimum age for marriage is 15 years. The Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child discourages marriage before the age of 16.
Mongolia	18
Myanmar	18			18	18	–
Nepal	20		20		–		(Civil Code 2017, Section 70 and 71) Marriage may be concluded if both have attained twenty years of age. Notwithstanding anything contained in clause (b) of sub-section (1), nothing shall bar the conclusion, or causing the conclusion of, a marriage within the relationship that is allowed to marry in accordance with the practices prevailing in their ethnic community or clan.
North Korea	18	17	18	17	–
Oman	18						While the legal minimum age is 18, "custom still recognises marriages below the age of 18".
Pakistan	18	16 in most provinces 18 in some provinces, including Punjab and Sindh	18	16/18	–		Despite the law against child marriage, the practice is widespread. According to two 2013 reports, nearly 20% of all marriages in Pakistan involve girls less than 18 years old. However, in Punjab and Sindh, severe punishments are given for marriages before the age of 18.
Palestine	18				None		Since 2019 marriage below 18 years is allowed only with religious court permission.
Philippines	21		18		–		-
Qatar	18	16	None				No minimum age for marriage with parental consent, and permitted only when in conformity with religious and cultural norms and with permission of a competent court.
Saudi Arabia	18				15
Singapore	21		18		None
South Korea	19		18		–
Sri Lanka	18						However, the parties must have a Qadi's permission to marry before contracting into marriage if they are Muslims.
Syria	18						Thomson Reuters Foundation notes that child marriage occurs from 13 years.
Taiwan	18		–		–		Starting 1 January 2023, the legal age of adulthood was lowered from 20 to 18 years; in the same amendment, the marriageable age was also increased to 18 years in order to be consistent with the legal age of adulthood. Therefore the case of marriage with parental consent no longer exists.
Tajikistan	18		17		–
Thailand	20		17		–
Turkey	18		17		16
Turkmenistan	18
United Arab Emirates	18				None		Mature minors allowed to marry with judicial permission.
Uzbekistan	18				18	17
Vietnam	20	18	20	18	None
Yemen	15		None				HRW notes no legal minimum age for marriage under Yemeni law, and UNSD notes that child marriage is permitted where "such marriage will entail some clear benefit."

Europe

The marriageable age as a right is 18 years in all European countries, with the exception of Andorra and Scotland where it is 16 (regardless of gender). Existing exceptions to this general rule (usually requiring special judicial or parental consent) are discussed below. In both the European Union and the Council of Europe the marriage act states: The Istanbul convention, the first legally binding instrument in Europe in the field of violence against women and domestic violence, only requires countries which ratify it to prohibit forced marriage (Article 37) and to ensure that forced marriages can be easily voided without further victimization (Article 32), but does not make any reference to a minimum age of marriage.

Country	Without parental or judicial consent		With parental consent		With judicial consent		Notes
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Albania	18
Andorra	16				14
Austria	18				16		The court does not only give consent, It also requires the parents' consent, with exception if they have no serious reasons for their refuse; Marriage Act, § 1
Belarus	18
Belgium	18				None		With parental consent, serious reasons are required for a minor to marry; without parental consent, the unwillingness of the parents has to constitute an abuse.
Bosnia and Herzegovina	18				16		In both entities and the Brčko District.
Bulgaria	18				16		The new 2009 Family Code fixes the age at 18, but allows for an exception for 16 years olds, stating that "Upon exception, important reasons impose this. Matrimony may be concluded by a person at the age of 16 with permission by the regional judge". It further states that both persons wanting to marry, as well as the parents/guardians of the minor, must be consulted by the judge. (Chapter 2, Article 6)
Croatia	18				16		Croatian Family Act, Article 25
Czech Republic	18				16		Article 672 of Act No. 89/2012 Coll. the Civil Code (which came into force in 2014) states that the court may, in exceptional cases, allow a marriage of a 16 year old, if there are serious reasons for it. Moreover, a minor can marry if he or she has been granted full capacity by a court decision as given by Article 37 of the Civil Code.
Denmark	18
Estonia	18				15		15 with court permission.
Finland	18						In Finland, all marriages under 18 years is completely legally banned with no exemptions since June 1, 2019.
France	18				16		Under 18, permission from a court or one parent. In France the legal age for marriage was equalized for both sexes at 18 in 2006, but in exceptional cases a court may allow marriage at younger ages.
Germany	18						The minimum age was explicitly set to 18 on July 22, 2017. (Before this day, a Family Court could issue an exception for 16–18 year-olds if one party was over 18.) Marriages with a spouse under 16 are legally void. For a 16–17 year old spouse the marriage is repealed.
Gibraltar	18
Greece	18				None		Under 18 requires court permission, which may be given if there are serious reasons for such a marriage.
Hungary	18				16		16 years with authorization from the guardianship authority.
Iceland	18						Since 2022, marriage under 18 is prohibited.
Ireland	18						Since 2019, marriage under 18 is prohibited.
Italy	18				16
Latvia	18		16
Liechtenstein	18				None
Lithuania	18				15	None	Minors can only marry below 15 years with court permission if they are pregnant females.
Luxembourg	18				None		New laws of 2014 fixed the marriageable age at 18 years for both sexes; prior to these regulations, the age was 16 for females and 18 for males. The new laws still allow both sexes to obtain judicial consent to get married under 18.
Malta	18		16				16 years with parental consent, specifically for "a person who is subject to paternal authority or to tutorship". (However if this is unattainable, the court can provide the consent.)
Moldova	18				16		16 years if there are valid reasons with both judicial and parental permission.
Montenegro	18				16
Netherlands	18						Marriage under 18 is prohibited. Exceptions were removed by a change in the law in 2015.
North Macedonia	18				16		16 years with court approval for male and female, their consent and their parents' consent is needed.
Norway	18				16		16 years with consent from parents (guardian) and permission from the County Governor. The County Governor may only give permission when there are 'special reasons for contracting a marriage'. In 2018, the unicameral Parliament of Norway passed a bill on the first reading to ban all child marriage under 18 years with no exemptions at all. The bill has to again pass the second reading before it can get royal assent by the King of Norway to go into law.
Poland	18					16	Article 10. §1. No one under the age of eighteen can enter into marriage. However, if there are important reasons, the guardianship court may permit a woman who has reached the age of sixteen to marry where the circumstances show that the marriage would be in the best interests of the newly established family.
Portugal	18		16
Romania	18				16		16, if there are valid reasons, with both judicial and parental permission, as well as medical approval.
Russia	18				16, only for justifiable reasons, such as pregnancy		Under 16 years in special circumstances, but different rules apply in some regions.
San Marino	18				16
Serbia	18				16
Slovakia	18				16		16 years with court consent, with a serious reason such as pregnancy.^[]
Slovenia	18				None		Under 18 years may be approved by the Social Work Center if there are "well founded reasons" arising upon investigation of the situation of the minor. (Art 23, 24 of the Law on Marriage and Family Relations).
Spain	18				16
Sweden	18						Not possible to marry under the age of 18 since July 1, 2014.
Switzerland	18						To be able to marry, the prospective spouses must have reached 18 years of age and have the capacity of judgement.
Ukraine	18				16		In^[] 2012 the Family Code of Ukraine was amended to allow persons aged 16 to marry under certain circumstances if issued by a court (article 23).
United Kingdom	18 in most jurisdictions 16 in Scotland		See notes				England and Wales: 18  Scotland: 16 Northern Ireland: 16 years with parental consent (with the court able to give consent in some cases).

Oceania

Country	Without parental or judicial consent		With parental consent		With judicial consent		Notes
	Male	Female	Male	Female	Male	Female
Australia	18				16		16 years with permission from a court and both parents (only granted in exceptional circumstances). Also in its external territories.
Fiji	18		16		–
Kiribati	21		18		–
Micronesia	18		18	16	–
Nauru	18				–
New Zealand	18				16		16 years with permission from a court and both parents.
Niue	21	19	18	15	–
Palau	18	16	18	16	–
Papua New Guinea	21
Samoa	21	19	18	16	–
Solomon Islands	18		15		–
Tonga	18			16	–
Tokelau	21	19	18	16	–
Tuvalu	21		16		–
Vanuatu	21		18		–

By religion

Judaism

Classical Antiquity

In ancient Israel men twenty years old and older would become warriors and when they get married they would get one year leave of absence to be with their wife.

Rabbis estimated the age of maturity from about the beginning of the thirteenth year for women and about the beginning of the fourteenth year for men.

On the practice of Levirate marriage, the Talmud advised against a large age gap between a man and his brother's widow. A younger woman marrying a significantly older man, however, is especially problematic: marrying one's young daughter to an old man was declared by the Sanhedrin as reprehensible as forcing her into prostitution.

Post-Classical period

In Rabbinic Judaism, males cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 13 years and a day and have undergone puberty and females cannot consent to marriage until they reach the age of 12 years and a day and have undergone puberty. Males and females are considered minors until the age of twenty. After twenty, males are not considered adults if they show signs of impotence. If males show no signs of puberty or do show impotence, they automatically become adults by age 35 and can marry. Marriage involved a double ceremony, which included the formal betrothal and wedding rites.

The minimum age for marriage was 13 years old for males and 12 years old for females but formal betrothal could take place before that and often did. Talmud advises males to get married at 18 years old or between 16 years old and 24 years old.

A ketannah (literally meaning "little [one]") was any girl between the age of 3 years and that of 12 years plus one day; she was subject to her father's authority, and he could arrange a marriage for her without her agreement, and that marriage remains binding even after reaching the age of maturity. If a girl was orphaned from her father, or she was married by his authority and subsequently divorced, she, her mother, or her brother could marry her in a quasi-binding fashion. Until the age of maturity, she could annul the marriage retroactively. After reaching the age of maturity, intercourse with her husband renders her officially married.

Modern period

Jewish people follow the law of the land that they live in. In modern Israel, the general age for marriage is 18 years old for males and females but with judicial consent 16 year old males and females can marry.^[]

Christianity

Catholic canon law adopted Roman law, which set the minimum age of marriage at 12 years old for females and 14 years old for males. The Roman Catholic Church raised the minimum age of marriage to 14 years old for females and to 16 years old for males in 1917 and lowered the age of majority to 18 years old in 1983. The Code of Canons of the Eastern Churches states the same requirements in canon 800.

blank	Without parental or ordinary officer consent		With parental consent		With ordinary officer consent		Notes
	Male consent	Female consent	Male consent	Female consent	Male consent	Female consent
Roman Catholic Church	18	18	16	14	16	14	The minimum ages of consent for marriage in the Catholic Church are 14 for girls and 16 for boys. Being underage constitutes a diriment impediment. That is, a marriage involving an underage bride or groom is canonically invalid. A Conference of Bishops may adopt a higher age for marriage, but in that case, the higher age only creates a prohibitive impediment, that is, a marriage involving a bride or groom above the Church's minimum age but below that set by the Conference is valid but illicit. Permission to marry against a civil authority's directive requires the permission of the Ordinary, which, in the case of sensible and equal laws regarding marriage age, is not usually granted. The permission by the Ordinary is also required in case of a marriage of a minor when their parents are unaware of his marriage or if their parents reasonably oppose the marriage.

Higher ages set by Conferences of Bishops

	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Canada	18
England and Wales	16
Gambia	18	16
Liberia	18	16
New Zealand	16
Nigeria	see note		Each bishop has the authority to set a higher prohibitive minimum age.
Philippines	21	18
Sierra Leone	18	16

Islam

Golden age

Hanafi school of classical Islamic jurisprudence interpret the "age of marriage", in the Quran (24:59;65:4), as the beginning of puberty; that is 9–11 years old.

	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Hanafi	12	9	Sunni

Marriages were traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband.

Shafiʽi, Hanbali, Ja'fari and Maliki schools of classical Islamic jurisprudence interpret the "age of marriage", in the Quran (24:59), as completion of puberty; that is 14/15-17 years. For Shafiʽi, Hanbali, and Maliki schools of Islamic jurisprudence, in Sunni Islam, the condition for marriage is physical (bulugh) maturity and mental (rushd) maturity.

	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Shafiʽi	16		Sunni
Hanbali	15		Sunni
Maliki	17		Sunni
Ja'fari	15	14	Shia

Büchler and Schlater state that "marriageable age according to classical Islamic law coincides with the occurrence of puberty. The notion of puberty refers to signs of physical maturity such as the emission of semen or the onset of menstruation".

In his Shafiʽi jurisprudential compilation, The Stocks of the Sojourner, Ahmad Ibn Naqib Al-Misri (died 1368 A.D.) writes:

Guardians are, moreover, two types, a binder and a non-binder. The binder is the father and the grandfather, mainly as to the marriage of a virgin, and so is the master as to the marriage of his slave girl. The meaning of "binder" is that he may marry her off without her consent. The non-binder may not marry her off without her consent and permission. When virgin, though, the father or the grandfather may marry her off without her permission, but it is commendable to ask her, and her silence should signify acquiescence. The sane-minded non-virgin, however, may not be married off by anyone after maturity unless with her express consent, be it by the father, the grandfather, or anyone else. Before maturity, the non-virgin may not be married off at all.

Modern period

Marriages are traditionally contracted by the father or guardian of the bride and her intended husband.

The 1917 codification of Islamic family law in the Ottoman empire distinguished between the age of competence for marriage, which was set at 18 years for boys and 17 years for girls, and the minimum age for marriage, which followed the traditional Hanafi minimum ages of 12 for boys and 9 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence was permissible only if proof of sexual maturity was accepted in court, while marriage under the minimum age was forbidden.

During the 20th century, most countries in the Middle East followed the Ottoman precedent in defining the age of competence, while raising the minimum age to 15 or 16 for boys and 15–16 for girls. Marriage below the age of competence is subject to approval by a judge and the legal guardian of the child. Egypt diverged from this pattern by setting the age limits of 18 years for boys and 16 years for girls, without a distinction between competence for marriage and minimum age.

Many senior clerics in Saudi Arabia have opposed setting a minimum age for marriage, arguing that a girl reaches adulthood at puberty.

However in 2019, members of the Saudi Shoura Council in 2019 approved fresh regulations for child marriage that will see to outlaw marrying off 15-year-old children and force the need for court approval for those under 18 years. The Chairman of the Human Rights Committee at the Shoura Council, Dr. Hadi Al-Yami, said that introduced controls were based on in-depth studies presented to the body. He pointed out that the regulation, vetted by the Islamic Affairs Committee at the Shoura Council, has raised the age of marriage to 18 years and prohibited it for those under 15 years.

Baha'i Faith

In the Bahai religious book Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the age of marriage is set at 15 years for both boys and girls. It is forbidden to become engaged before the age of 15 years.

Indian religions

The Dharmaśāstras state that females can marry only after they have reached puberty. Furthermore, The Legal Age for Marriage in India is being proposed to be amended, thereby increasing the marriage age for girls in India in 2022 from 18 to 21 years.

See also

• List of countries by age at first marriage
• Age disparity in sexual relationships
• Arranged marriage
• Child marriage
• Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages (UN treaty)
• Legality of polygamy
• Mature minor doctrine
• Polygamy
• Teenage marriage

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