An amendment to Iraq's 1959 Personal Status law could theoretically make it legal for girls as young as nine years old to get married. The proposal has drawn scrutiny worldwide.
This amendment would also remove existing protections for women regarding divorce, custody and inheritance, sparking protests across the country. Human rights advocates are warning that such changes could further marginalize Iraqi women, especially in economically disadvantaged communities where child marriage is already prevalent.
Ages for consent and marriage differ significantly by country, with regulations often shaped by a mix of historical traditions, economic conditions and societal norms. While some countries maintain a uniform minimum age for both marriage and consent, others make distinctions, with age exceptions in place based on marital status, parental consent, or judicial approval.
Using data from the United Nations, Age of Consent and Girls Not Brides, Newsweek has compiled a map that looks at the different marriage and consent laws across the world.
In many countries, the legal age of consent ranges from 11 to 21.
The map categorizes countries by their specific age of consent laws, often highlighting the disparity between those with a minimum legal age of consent and those that only allow sexual relations within marriage.
In several nations, any form of premarital sexual relationship is legally prohibited, while marriage may be permitted at younger ages. This situation is particularly prominent in countries where religious law heavily influences the civil code, such as in some Muslim-majority countries where premarital relations are illegal.
Beyond the age of consent, the marriageable age varies widely, with many countries permitting marriage before 18 with conditions, such as parental consent.
The United Nations Population Fund reports that while 158 countries officially set 18 as the minimum marriage age for women, 146 of those permit exceptions that allow girls to marry before this age. In fact, 52 countries permit marriage under 15 years old with parental consent. Similar exceptions exist for males, though fewer countries allow boys under 15 to marry, even with parental consent.
In recent years, several countries have revised their laws to prevent child marriage altogether. European Union nations, for example, have implemented stricter age limits or eliminated marriage exceptions, as seen in Sweden, Denmark and Germany. Finland, which used to permit marriages under 18 with judicial approval, now mandates that both partners must be at least 18 without exceptions.
In the United States, marriage laws are defined at the state level, creating a patchwork of regulations. Some states permit marriage as young as 15 or 16 with judicial or parental consent, while states like Mississippi and Nebraska have ages of majority at 21 and 19, respectively, which can affect age restrictions around marriage.
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