Madrid, Feb 2 (DPA) Spain may raise the minimum legal marriageable age from 14 to 16 years, Health and Social Policy Minister Leire Pajin said Wednesday.
Spanish law sets the minimum age for marrying at 18 years. However, people as young as 16 years may marry if they have become independent from their parents.
And people as young as 14 years may marry provided they have special permission from a judge who needs to first question the couple and their family members.
About 340 people aged 14-15 years have married in Spain over the past decade.
The government is concerned that the current law can lead to child abuse or arranged marriages, the daily El Mundo reported.
‘Fourteen-year-olds must be allowed to be children. If they marry, something is wrong,’ the daily quoted health ministry sources as saying.
Experts working on new legislation to protect children were considering raising the marriage age, though no final decision had yet been taken on the subject, Pajin said.
Most European countries set the marriageable age at 18 years, though exceptions can usually be made with judicial or parental consent.
