Child marriage is still legal in well over 100 countries. A handful set no minimum age at all, many set 18 on paper but permit younger marriages through parental consent or a judge’s approval, and others let religious or customary courts operate alongside the civil code with different rules of their own. About 12 million girls are married before age 18 every year, most of them in countries whose laws technically prohibit it.1UNICEF. Child Marriage
Countries With No Real Minimum Age
A small group of countries have no functioning national law setting a minimum age for marriage. Somalia, South Sudan, and Yemen are the clearest examples. Somalia has lacked a unified civil code addressing marriage age for decades. South Sudan is still building its legal infrastructure. Yemen has seen repeated parliamentary efforts to set a minimum age fail, leaving no floor in place.
Saudi Arabia was historically in this category. Its 2022 Personal Status Law now sets 18 as the legal minimum, but courts may still permit marriage below that age when both parties have reached puberty and the court is satisfied the marriage serves their “interest.” The judicial pathway around the minimum remains open.
Equatorial Guinea is often listed alongside these countries, though its Civil Code, inherited from Spanish colonial rule, sets the age of majority at 18 and prevents un-emancipated minors from marrying. Enforcement is weak, and reports describe marriages involving very young girls under customary practices that fill the gaps left by colonial-era law.
Countries Where Exceptions Swallow the Rule
Most legal child marriages happen in countries that set 18 as the default but allow younger marriages with parental consent, a judge’s approval, or both.
Bangladesh
The minimum age is 18 for women and 21 for men. Section 19 of the Child Marriage Restraint Act of 2017 carves out a broad exception: a marriage involving a minor is not treated as a criminal offense if it is conducted “in the best interests of the minor” with court approval and parental consent, under circumstances defined by government rules.2UNICEF Bangladesh. Child Marriage Restraint Act, 2017 Human rights organizations have called this a backdoor that undermines the law’s stated purpose.
India
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 defines a “child” as a female under 18 or a male under 21. Crucially, child marriages are voidable rather than automatically void. A child spouse can petition a court for annulment, but until they do, the marriage remains legally recognized.3India Code. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 Only marriages involving trafficking, force, or enticement of a minor are void from the start. A child who doesn’t know they can seek annulment, or who faces family pressure against it, stays legally married.
Pakistan
The rules depend on where you live. Sindh province set 18 as the minimum for both genders in 2013, and the Islamabad Capital Territory followed in May 2025. The remaining provinces still rely on older laws with lower minimums that typically distinguish between boys and girls.
Indonesia
Indonesia raised its minimum marriage age to 19 for both men and women in 2019, replacing a law that had allowed girls to marry at 16.4Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia. Government Raises Minimum Age of Marriage to 19 The same amendment preserved the ability of parents to seek a court dispensation for younger marriages if they can show “urgent” circumstances backed by evidence. Religious courts, which handle marriage matters for Muslim Indonesians, process these dispensation requests, and approvals remain common.
Malaysia
Two parallel legal systems apply. Civil law sets the minimum at 18 for both genders, with exceptions for girls aged 16 to 17 who obtain permission from the state’s chief minister. Islamic family law enactments in most Malaysian states set the minimum at 18 for men and 16 for women, and Sharia judges have discretionary power to approve marriages below those floors. Most child marriage applications that reach Sharia courts are approved.
The United States
Child marriage remains legal in roughly two-thirds of U.S. states. About 16 states have passed outright bans with no exceptions. The remaining states allow minors to marry with some combination of parental consent, judicial approval, or both. Some states set an absolute floor at 16 or 17; others have no hard floor below which marriage is impossible. Where judicial approval is required, standards vary from state to state.
Countries Where Religious or Customary Law Overrides the Civil Code
Some of the widest gaps between law and practice sit in countries where religious or customary legal systems have constitutional standing alongside the civil code. Where both systems apply, the civil minimum competes with an alternative set of rules that may allow marriage at puberty or earlier.
Nigeria is the sharpest example. The federal Child Rights Act of 2003 prohibits marriage under 18, but 11 of Nigeria’s 36 states have never adopted it. In northern states, customary and Islamic law permit child marriage. Section 29(4)(b) of the Nigerian Constitution defines any married female as having reached the age of majority regardless of her actual age. A girl married at 14 under customary law is, by constitutional definition, no longer a child.
The pattern repeats elsewhere. Families in countries with recognized customary or religious courts often register marriages through those systems rather than civil registries. Once a religious ceremony satisfies the community’s requirements, there is little practical incentive to comply with a civil code setting a higher age. Government reach into rural areas is often thin, and the standing of traditional systems is frequently protected by constitutional guarantees of religious or cultural freedom.
Different Minimum Ages for Girls and Boys
Many countries set a lower minimum marriage age for girls than for boys. Research found 59 countries whose laws permit girls to marry younger than boys when parental consent is involved, and in 17 of those countries the gap is three or four years. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa account for most of these gender-disparate laws. Bangladesh and India both set the minimum at 18 for women but 21 for men. Indonesia’s 2019 reform closed a similar three-year gap by raising the minimum to 19 for both sexes.4Sekretariat Kabinet Republik Indonesia. Government Raises Minimum Age of Marriage to 19
Countries That Have Recently Closed the Loopholes
The trend is moving toward stricter laws, if slowly. The Philippines criminalized child marriage in 2021 through Republic Act No. 11596, imposing prison sentences on anyone who facilitates, arranges, or solemnizes a child marriage, with enhanced penalties for parents or guardians. It also makes cohabitation between an adult and a child outside of marriage a criminal offense.5Philippine Judiciary. Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act No. 11596
El Salvador and Guatemala eliminated all legal exceptions to their 18-year minimums in 2017. Bolivia’s parliament passed legislation banning child marriage and civil unions involving children in 2025. In The Gambia, the Children’s Act of 2005 made marrying a child, defined as anyone under 18, an offense punishable by a fine, imprisonment, or both.6Repository on Disability Rights in Africa. The Gambia Children’s Act, 2005 In the United States, 16 states have now passed laws to end the practice, though a majority still permit it with exceptions.
The most effective reforms share a common pattern: setting the minimum at 18, removing all exceptions, imposing criminal penalties on adults who facilitate the practice, and requiring registration through a central civil authority.
What International Treaties Do and Don’t Do
Several international treaties address child marriage, but none can override domestic law without national implementation. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, adopted in 1979, is the most cited. Article 16(2) states that “the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect, and all necessary action, including legislation, shall be taken to specify a minimum age for marriage and to make the registration of marriages in an official registry compulsory.”7Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Womena>
The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone under 18 “unless under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier.”8Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on the Rights of the Child That carve-out lets countries define majority at a younger age for marriage purposes, which is exactly what many do. The 1964 Convention on Consent to Marriage requires signatory states to specify a minimum age by law but explicitly allows exceptions “where a competent authority has granted a dispensation as to age, for serious reasons, in the interest of the intending spouses.”9Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Convention on Consent to Marriage, Minimum Age for Marriage and Registration of Marriages
UN committees periodically review signatory countries and recommend raising minimums to 18 without exception. Those reviews carry diplomatic weight but no enforcement mechanism. The treaties are most useful to domestic advocates and lawyers who cite them in court challenges to local marriage laws.