Marriageable age

Marriageable age (or marriage age) is the age at which a person is allowed by law to marry, either as a right or subject to parental or other forms of consent. Age and other prerequisites to marriage vary between jurisdictions, but generally is set at eighteen. Until recently, the marriageable age for girls was lower in many jurisdictions than for boys, but in many places has now been raised to those of boys to further gender equality. Most jurisdictions allow marriage at a younger age with parental or judicial approval, and some also allow younger people to marry if the girl is pregnant. The marriage age should not be confused with the age of majority or the age of consent, though in some places they may be the same. In many developing countries, the official age prescriptions stand as mere guidelines. In some societies, a marriage by a person (usually a girl) below the age of 18 is regarded as a child marriage.

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, and tribal laws. 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 minimum age for marriage.

History and social attitudes

Historically, the age of consent for a sexual union was determined by tribal custom or was a matter for families to decide. In most cases, this coincided with signs of puberty: menstruation for a girl and pubic hair for a boy.

In Ancient Rome, it was very common for girls to marry and have children shortly after the onset of puberty. Roman law required brides to be at least 12 years old. In Roman law, first marriages to brides aged 12 through 24 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. The Catholic canon law followed the Roman law. In the 12th century, the Catholic Church drastically changed legal standards for marital consent by allowing daughters over 12 and sons over 14 to marry without their parents' approval, even if their marriage was made clandestinely. Parish studies have confirmed that late medieval women did sometimes marry against their parents' approval. The Catholic Church's policy 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 western Europe, the rise of Christianity 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. From as early as the 4th century, the Church discouraged any practice that enlarged the family, like adoption, polygamy, taking concubines, divorce, and remarriage. The Church severely discouraged and prohibited consanguineous marriages, a marriage pattern that has constituted a means to maintain clans (and thus their power) throughout history. The church also forbade marriages in which the bride did not clearly agree to the union. After the Fall of Rome, 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 Church and State had become allies in erasing the solidarity and thus the political power of the clans; the Church sought to replace traditional religion, whose vehicle was the kin group, and substituting 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 on the part of the most powerful kin groups, clans or sections, whose conspiracies and murders threatened the power of the state and also the demand of 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 and wait until a small farm became available before they could marry and thus produce children; those who could and did delay marriage presumably were rewarded by the landlord and those who did not were presumably denied said reward. For example, Medieval England saw the marriage age as variable depending on economic circumstances, with couples delaying marriage until the early twenties when times were bad and falling to the late teens after the Black Death, when there were labor shortages; by appearances, marriage of adolescents was not the norm in England.

In medieval Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the Slavic traditions of patrilocality of early and universal marriage (usually of a bride aged 12–15 years, with menarche occurring on average at 14) lingered; the manorial system had yet to penetrate into eastern Europe and had generally had less effect on clan systems there and the bans on cross-cousin marriages had not been firmly enforced.

The first recorded age-of-consent law dates back 800 years. In 1275, in England, as part of the rape law, a statute, Westminster 1, made it a misdemeanor to "ravish" 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 of age. In the 12th century, the jurist Gratian, an influential founder of Canon law in medieval Europe, accepted the age of puberty for marriage to be between 12 and 14, but acknowledged consent to be meaningful if the children were older than 7. There were authorities with a claim that consent could take place earlier. Marriage would then be valid as long as neither of the two parties annulled the marital agreement before reaching puberty, or if they had already consummated the marriage. It should be noted that Judges honored marriages based on mutual consent at ages younger than 7, in spite of what Gratian had said; there are recorded marriages of 2 and 3 year olds.

Still, in most of Northwestern Europe, marriage at very early ages was rare. One thousand marriage certificates from 1619 to 1660 in the Archdiocese of Canterbury show that only one bride was 13 years of age, four were 15, twelve were 16, and seventeen were 17 years of age while the other 966 brides were at least 19 years of age at marriage. And the Church 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 is the most common age, with average ages of 24 years for the brides and 27 for the grooms. While European noblewomen married early, they were a small minority and the marriage certificates from Canterbury show that even among nobility it was very rare to marry women off at very early ages.

The American colonies followed the English tradition, but the law was more of a guide. For example, Mary Hathaway (Virginia, 1689) was only 9 when she was married to William Williams. Sir Edward Coke (England, 17th century) made it clear that "the marriage of girls under 12 was normal, and the age at which a girl who was a wife was eligible for a dower from her husband's estate was 9 even though her husband be only four years old". Reliable data for when people would actually marry are very difficult to find. In England, for example, the only reliable data on age at marriage in the early modern period come from records that involved only those who left property after their death. Not only were the records relatively rare, but not all bothered to record the participants' ages, and it seemed that the more complete the records are, the more likely they are to reveal young marriages. Additionally, 20th- and 21st-century historians have sometimes shown reluctance to accept data regarding a young age of marriage, and would instead explain the data away as a misreading by a later copier of the records.

In France, until the French Revolution, the marriageable age was 12 years for girls and 14 for boys. Revolutionary legislation in 1792 increased the age to 13 years for girls and 15 for boys. Under the Napoleonic Code in 1804, the marriageable age was set at 15 years for girls and 18 for boys. In 2006, the marriageable age for girls was increased to 18, the same as for boys.

In jurisdictions where the ages are not the same, the marriageable age for girls is more commonly two or three years lower than that for boys.

Marriageable age as a right vs exceptions

In the majority of countries the marriageable age as a right is 18. However, most of these countries have exceptions for minors, usually requiring parental and/or judicial authorization. These exceptions vary considerably by country. The United Nations Population Fund stated the following:

"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 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 Western countries, marriages of teenagers have become rare in recent years; with their frequency having rapidly declined during the past few decades. For instance, in Finland, where underage youth can obtain a special judicial authorization to marry, today there are only 30—40 such marriages per year (with most of the spouses being aged 17), while in the early 1990s, more than 100 underage marriages were registered each year.

By country

Africa

Country	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Algeria	19		under 19 with judicial consent (Article 7 of the Family Code )
Angola	18		16 with parental consent males, 15 with parental consent females.
Benin	18
Botswana	21		18 with parental consent.
Burkina Faso	20	17	18 with parental consent males, 15 with parental consent females.
Burundi	21	18
Cameroon	15	18
Central African Republic	22	18
Chad	18	15
Democratic Republic of Congo	18	15
Djibouti	18
Egypt	21		18 with parental consent.
Equatorial Guinea	12
Eritrea	18
Ethiopia	18
Gabon	21		18 with parental consent males, 15 with parental consent females.
Guinea-Bissau	18
Guinea-Conakry	18
Ivory Coast	20	18
Kenya	18		16 with parental consent males.
Lesotho	21		18 with parental consent males, 16 with parental consent females.
Liberia	21	18	18 with parental consent males, 16 with parental consent females
Libya	20		But lower with judicial permission on grounds of benefit or necessity and with wali's agreement.
Mauritius	18		16 with parental consent
Madagascar	18	17
Mali	18	16
Mauritania	18
Morocco	18
Mozambique	18		16 with parental consent
Namibia	21		18 with parental consent
Niger	18	15	under with parental consent
Nigeria	18
Republic of the Congo	21	18	under with parental consent
Rwanda	21		under with parental consent
São Tomé and Príncipe	18		16 with parental consent males, 14 with parental consent females.
Senegal	18	16
Sierra Leone	18
Somalia	18		16 with parental consent females.
South Africa	18		For a marriage 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.
Sudan	Puberty		With requirement for willing consent of both parties.
South Sudan	18
Swaziland	21		18 with parental consent males, 16 with parental consent females.
Tanzania	18		14 with parental consent
Togo	20	17
Tunisia	18		Lower with judicial special permission for pressing reasons and with a clear interest for both spouses.
Uganda	18
Zambia	21
Zimbabwe	18		16 with parental consent.

Asia

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).

Country	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Afghanistan	18	16	15 for females with the consent of the father or with judicial approval. Under the Civil Code, Article 70 sets the marriageable age at 18 for males and 16 for females. However, Article 71 creates an exception to the above, stating:"(1) Where the girl does not complete the age provided under Article 70 of this law, the marriage may be concluded only through her father or the competent court. (2) The marriage of a minor girl whose age is less then 15 shall never be permissible." In practice, however, marriage often occurs at much younger ages, as different ethnic groups in Afghanistan have various traditions, many accepting marriage at young ages.
Bangladesh	21	18	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		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
Hong Kong	21		16 with parental consent.
India	21	18	If any partner(s) engages in marriage at a younger age, (s)he can ask for the marriage to be declared void. A recent recommendation by the Law Commission aims to equalize the marriage age for males and females to 16. Official policy automatically declares marriages under 15 as "null and void", while marriages at the age of 14 or 15 are "voidable". In 2012, the high court declared that Muslim women can marry at 15. Additionally, the report declares that "In spite of these legal provisions, child marriage is still widely practiced and a marriage solemnized in contravention of these provisions is not void even under the new PCMA, 1929, the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 and also under the Muslim Law."
Indonesia	18	16	Marriage at younger ages is legal with parental consent and judicial approval.
Iran	18	15	15 for males and 13 for females. The court approves, on tens of thousands of cases per year, marriage of younger girls, up to nine years old
Iraq	18		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		Minimum marriageable age increased from 17 to 18 in November 2013. Family courts able to recognise marriage for 16 and above in special cases.
Japan	20		18 for males and 16 for females with parental consent.
Jordan	18
Kazakhstan	18	17	16 with parental consent.
South Korea	19		18 with parental consent
Kuwait	17	15
Kyrgyzstan	18		16 with parental consent
Laos	18		15 with parental consent.
Lebanon	18	17	15, or 9 with judicial permission for Shi'a. 18 or 17 and 16 or 15 with judicial permission for Druze.
Malaysia	21		18 with parental consent. Muslim girls under 16 can marry with the permission of sharia authorities.
Maldives	18		According to custom, the minimum age for marriage is 15. The Law on the Protection of the Rights of the Child discourages marriage before the age of 16.
Myanmar	20		14 with parental consent females.
Nepal	20		18 with parental consent.
North Korea	18	17
Oman	18		While the legal minimum age is 18, "custom still recognises marriages below the age of 18".
Pakistan	18	16 (18 in Sindh)	Despite the law against child marriage, the practice is widespread. According to two 2013 reports, over 50% of all marriages in Pakistan involve girls less than 18 years old. Another UNICEF report claims 70 per cent of girls in Pakistan are married before the age of 16. Another custom in Pakistan, called swara or vani, involves village elders solving family disputes or settling unpaid debts by marrying off girls. The average marriage age of swara girls is between 5 and 9.
Palestine	16	15	with parent consent.
Mongolia	18
Philippines	21		18 with parent consent.
Qatar	18	16	Under with parental consent. 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.
Russia	18		16 in special circumstances; may vary in different regions.
Saudi Arabia	None
Singapore	21		18 with parental consent; below 18 with special marriage license.
Sri Lanka	18		However, the parties must have a Quazi'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.
Republic of China（Taiwan）	20		18 for males and 16 for females with statutory agent's consent.
Tajikistan	18		17 with parental consent.
Thailand	20		17 with parental consent.
Timor-Leste	17		16 with parental consent.
Turkmenistan	16
United Arab Emirates	18		While UAE is based on Sharia law, a minimum age for marriage exists.
Uzbekistan	17
Vietnam	20	18
Yemen	15		HRW notes no legal minimum age for marriage under Sharia 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 in all European countries, with the exception of Andorra, Malta and Scotland where it is 16 (for both sexes). Existing exceptions to this general rule (usually requiring special judicial and/or parental consent) are discussed below. In both the European Union and the Council of Europe the marriageable age falls within the jurisdiction of individual member 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	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Albania	18
Andorra	16		14 with judicial authority
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. However, marriage at age 17 is allowed with parental consent, and at age 16 with parental consent and the condition that the other intending spouse is at least 18.
Austria	18		16 with parental consent but the other partner must be 18 or older.
Azerbaijan	18		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.
Belarus	18
Belgium	18		Younger with judicial consent (with no strict minimum age). 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.
Bulgaria	18		The new 2009 Family Code fixes the age at 18, but allows for an exception for 16 years olds, stating that "Upon exception, in case that 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 with court permission.
Cyprus	18		16 with parental consent, if there are serious reasons for the marriage.
Czech Republic	18		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 years old, if there are serious reasons for it.
Denmark	18		15 with an exemption named "Kongebrev" (which is a "letter from the king [granting an exemption]").
Estonia	18		15 with court permission.
Finland	18		Under 18 with the consent of the ministry of justice in extraordinary circumstances, in which case parents or other guardian must be heard, but actual parental consent is not required.
France	18		Under 18 permission from a court and both parents.
Georgia	18		16 with parental consent.
Germany	18		16 with court permission and parental consent.
Gibraltar	18
Greece	18		Under 18 requires court permission, which may be given if there are serious reasons for such a marriage
Hungary	18		16 with authorization from the guardianship authority
Iceland	18		Under 18 with parental consent and permission of the Ministry of the Interior.
Ireland	18		Under 18 with the permission of the Circuit Family Court or High Court. In December 2015, the government announced its intention to remove this exception.
Italy	18		16 with court consent.
Latvia	18		16 with court and/or parental permission.
Lithuania	18		15 with court permission, minors can only marry below 15 if they are pregnant females with court permission.
Luxembourg	18		New laws of 2014 fixed the marriageable at 18 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.
Netherlands	18		Under 18 with permission from the Minister of Justice; 16 with parental consent in case of pregnancy.
Norway	18		16 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'.
Malta	16		the age is 16, regardless of parental consent.
Poland	18		16 for women with judicial approval.
Portugal	18		16 with parental consent (or if this is unattainable, the court can provide the consent).
Romania	18		16 with permission from the district's administrative board.
Russia	18		16 in special circumstances, but different rules apply in some regions.
Serbia	18		16 with court consent.
Slovakia	18		16 with court consent, with a serious reason such as pregnancy.
Slovenia	18		15 with parental consent.
Spain	18		16 with court consent
Sweden	18		Under 18 with permission from the county administrative board (LST). The county administrative board may only give permission when there are 'special reasons' but although the custodians of the underage should be heard if possible, the consent of the custodians is not required. Although the law specifies no lower age limit to enter into marriage, the policy of the LST is to not grant any permission to a person under 15 years of age.
Switzerland	18
Turkey	18		17 with parental consent, 16 in special circumstances with court approval.
Ukraine	18		Age was equalized at 18 for both sexes in 2012, but courts may still grant permission from age 16 if there are special reasons.
United Kingdom	18 (16 for Scotland)		England and Wales: 16 with parental consent or the permission of the court. Scotland: 16 Northern Ireland: 16 with parental consent (with the court able to give consent in some cases).

North America

Country	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Antigua & Barbuda	18		15 with parental consent. 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."
Bahamas	18		The Marriage Act (1908) provides no minimum age with parental consent or with a Supreme Court ruling.
Barbados	18		16 with parental consent.
Belize	18		14 with parental consent. Section 4.-(1) of the Marriage Act reads: A marriage solemnised between persons either of whom is under the age of fourteen shall be void.
Canada	18/19		Marriage in Canada is governed by both federal and provincial law. 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.
Costa Rica	18		15 with parental consent.
Cuba	18	16	16 with parental consent males, 14 with parental consent females.
Dominica	18		16 with parental consent.
Dominican Republic	18		16 with parental consent.
El Salvador	18		15 with parental consent males, 14 with parental consent females.
Grenada	21		16 with parental consent.
Guatemala	18		16 with judicial consent.
Haiti	18		15 with parental consent females.
Honduras	21		18 with parental consent.
Jamaica	18		16 with parental consent.
Mexico	18		16 with parental consent males, 14 with parental consent females
Nicaragua	18		16 with parental consent (under the new 2014 Código de Familia, Articles 54, 57(a) and 58(c))
Panama	18		16 with parental consent males, 14 with parental consent females
Puerto Rico	21		(Younger parties may obtain license in case of pregnancy or birth of child), and 18 with parental consent.
Saint Kitts and Nevis	16
Saint Lucia	18		16 with parental consent
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	16	15
Trinidad & Tobago	18		14 with parental consent males, 12 with parental consent females. For marriage with parental consent, ages differ depending on religion, with minimums as low as 14 years for males and 12 years for females.
United States	18 (19 for Nebraska, 21 for Mississippi)		Generally 18, but varies by state. Most states allow minors to marry with judicial and/or parental consent. Main article: Age of marriage in the United States

Oceania

Country	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Australia	18		16 with permission from a court and both parents (only granted in exceptional circumstances).
Fiji	18
Kiribati	21		16 with parental consent.
Micronesia	18	16	Under 16 for females with parental consent.
Nauru	18	16
New Zealand	18		16 with parental consent.
Niue	21	19	18 with parental consent males, 15 with parental consent females.
Palau	None		There is no legislation specifying the minimum age at marriage for men and women.
Papua New Guinea	21
Samoa	21	19	18 with parental consent males, 16 with parental consent females.
Solomon Islands	18		15 with parental consent.
Tonga	18		16 for females with parental consent.
Tuvalu	21		16 with parental consent.
Vanuatu	21		18 with parental consent.

South America

Country	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Argentina	18		16 with parental consent, lower with judicial consent in exceptional cases (Art 403 and 404 of Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación).
Brazil	18		16 with parental or guardian consent.
Bolivia	21		Men can marry at 16 and women at 14 with permission from parents or guardians. Exceptions can be made for pregnant minors.
Chile	18		16 with parental consent.
Colombia	18		14 with parental consent
Ecuador	18		under with parental consent
Guyana	18		16 with parental consent
Paraguay	20		16 with parental consent
Peru	18		16 with parental consent
Suriname	21		17 with parental consent males, 15 with parental consent females.
Uruguay	18		16 with parental consent
Venezuela	18		14 for females and 16 for males with parental consent.

By religion

Catholic Church

	Male consent	Female consent	Notes
Catholic Church	16	14	Diriment impediment (can. 1083 § 1). Conferences of Bishops can adopt a higher age for liceity (§ 2). Marriage against the worldly power's directive need permission by the ordinary for liceity (can. 1071 § 1 no. 2), which in case of sensible and equal laws regarding marriage age is regularly not granted. The permission by the ordinary is also required in case of a marriage of a minor child (i.e. under 18 years old) when his parents are unaware of his marriage or if his parents reasonably oppose his marriage (can. 1071 § 1 no. 6).

Higher ages set by Conferences of Bishops

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

Islam

Sunni

Puberty is the requirement for consent. For a female, a condition is applied; If she has not been previously married then both her male guardian and herself are required to accept (not the case for divorced or widowed females-in that case she is independent to give consent).

See also

• Age at first marriage
• Arranged marriage
• Child marriage
• Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage, and Registration of Marriages (UN treaty)
• Legal status of polygamy
• Mature minor doctrine
• Polygamy
• Teen marriage

External links

• Age at 1:st marriage in Gapminder World
• Cornell Law table of marriage age by state and territory for The United States