Germany's 358 Recorded Child Marriages: Only Eight Annulled, Zero Pending
October 15, 2026 · Frisian News
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Baden-Württemberg authorities officially recorded 358 child marriages since 2012 but secured only eight court annulments. Syrian men account for close to 40 percent of cases and no proceedings are currently pending.
Baden-Württemberg authorities have officially recorded 358 child marriages since 2012, yet courts have issued a legally binding annulment in only eight of those cases, according to state government figures released in early October 2026 in response to a parliamentary inquiry by AfD lawmakers Nikolaos Boutakoglou and Emely Knorr.
The eight annulments took place between 2018 and 2024. Among them was the 2020 annulment of an 11-year-old Iraqi girl's marriage to a 17-year-old Iraqi boy, and the 2018 annulment of a 14-year-old Afghan girl's marriage to a 30-year-old Afghan man. Two 2024 annulments involved a 16-year-old German girl and a 25-year-old Pakistani man, and a 16-year-old Syrian girl and a 27-year-old Syrian man, according to Welt newspaper.
The remaining approximately 350 cases were closed under what the Tübingen regional authority categorises as "other resolutions." The state government cites the death of a spouse, a decision not to seek annulment, or a subsequent marriage abroad as possible reasons, with no court order issued in any of them. Those files still include a 12-year-old Afghan girl married to an 18-year-old man in 2020, a 12-year-old Syrian girl married to a 28-year-old Syrian man in 2022, and a 12-year-old Afghan girl married to a 21-year-old Afghan man in 2023. Some reports note nine marriages in which the girl was under 14 at the time of the union.
The demographic pattern is clear. Men from Syria account for 132 of the 358 recorded cases, close to 40 percent of the total. Nationals of Bulgaria, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Iraq make up much of the remainder. Marriages between two German citizens account for roughly 0.3 percent of the total. Most cases date from 2015 onward, when large-scale migration into Germany accelerated.
Germany raised the minimum marriage age to 18 with the Act to Combat Child Marriages in 2017, and in 2024 the Bundestag adopted additional rules aimed at protecting minors in marriages concluded abroad. The Interior Ministry told the inquiry that the Tübingen authority records only marriages contracted outside Germany that come to the attention of German registry offices.
At the time the ministry replied, no court proceedings to annul any child marriage were pending. The Education Ministry told the MPs it collects no data on the school attendance of children recorded as married. YASEMIN, a state-funded counselling service for people at risk of forced marriage, recorded 271 counselling cases in 2025, according to the Interior Ministry's September 2026 reply; in 80 of those, the individual faced a risk of forced marriage, including 33 minors, four of whom were under 12.
Boutakoglou described the situation as "really awful" and said it was being treated as a taboo subject, while Knorr called for "effective protection, early intervention, and resolute action against forced marriages." Baden-Württemberg holds around 11.24 million people, approximately 13.5 percent of Germany's total population of 83.5 million, per Euronews.
The law exists, the records exist, and the proceedings do not.
Published October 15, 2026 · Frisian News