She was 11 years old when she was married off. Hundreds of cases in the German state

The case was reviewed by Euronews.

Data on marriages are collected by the office in Tübingen, and the information was provided by the Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg. The ministry emphasized that this applies only to marriages concluded outside Germany.

The youngest girl was 11 years old

Eight final annulments concerned the period from 2018 to 2024. Among the cases described was the marriage of an 11-year-old Iraqi citizen with a 17-year-old Iraqi. They were invalidated in 2020.

Two years earlier, the marriage of a 14-year-old Afghan woman and a 30-year-old man had ended. In turn, in 2024, the following were invalidated: relationships of a 16-year-old German girl with a 25-year-old Pakistani man and a 16-year-old Syrian woman with a 27-year-old Syrian citizen.

The list for the years 2015–2026 includes 350 proceedings completed in the "other decisions" category. This includes: o situations when one of the spouses died, the minor turned 18, the application for annulment was abandoned or another marriage was concluded abroad.

In such situations, there was no final decision to annul the union.

The data for 2023 included the case of a 12-year-old Afghan girl who married a 21-year-old Afghan man. Girls aged 13 and 14 also repeatedly appear in the registers. The latest entries for 2026 include: marriages of 16- and 17-year-old girls with adult men.

There is no data on the situation of students

MPs also asked about the impact of such marriages on the education of children and young people. Baden-Württemberg's education ministry responded that it did not collect data to determine how many students were affected.

The state authorities also do not have information about the countries where registered marriages were concluded. The ministry indicated that it collects primarily data needed to consider annulment cases (age and citizenship of the spouses at the time of concluding the marriage).

80 people at risk of forced marriage

In 2025, the state-funded guidance center YASEMIN recorded 271 cases. In 80 cases, people seeking help were at risk of forced marriage. There were 33 minors in this group.

Four people were under 12 years old, five were 12 years old, and two were 13 years old.

German law: marriage only upon reaching the age of majority

In Germany, a law to prevent child marriage has been in force since 2017. In 2024, the Bundestag adopted further solutions regarding the protection of minors in relationships concluded abroad.

According to German law, you can only get married after turning 18. Forced marriage is a separate crime in this country. In German legal terminology, a person up to 14 years of age is considered a child, and between 14 and 18 years of age - a teenager. The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child considers any person under 18 years of age to be a child.

The authors of the inquiry - AfD MPs Nikolaos Boutakoglou and Emely Knorr - assessed the presented data as alarming. Boutakoglou argued on social media that the problem of child marriage is "truly terrible" and yet remains a taboo topic. Knorr, in turn, emphasized that such relationships are contrary to fundamental values ​​and that children should be guaranteed safety, access to education and the ability to independently decide about their future. She called for earlier reaction and decisive action against forced marriages.