Minimum marrying age in Spain raised from 14 to 16
Spain has raised the minimum age for marriage from 14 to 16 years old, bringing it in line with their new age of consent and the rest of Europe.
Before the change, 14-year-olds could marry in exceptional cases with the consent of a judge.
Even though the minimum age has been raised to 16, the general rule is that people need to be 18 to marry.
The former threshold of 14 years was among the lowest in Europe.
Spain also raised the age of consent from 13 to 16, a measure it said was necessary to combat paedophilia, while also decriminalising sexual relations between teens of the same age.
The law aims to stop "those relationships that are not between one equal and another", Salome Adroher from the Spanish Ministry of Health said.
In Spain, marriages between minors are increasingly rare.
In 2014, just one marriage involving a minor under the age of 15 took place, according to the National Institute of Statistics.
The gypsy community, of which early marriage was once a hallmark, has also largely abandoned the practice, Manuel Gonzalez from the Roma Association of Madrid said.
"Some 50 or 60 years ago ... 14-year-olds were considered men," he said.
"They worked to support their households, they didn't have a childhood.
"In the past 20 or 30 years, things have changed a lot."
Today, the average marriage age in the community ranges from 16 to 20 for women and from 18 to 22 for men, according to the Foundation of Spanish Gypsies.
The United Nations released a report in 2012 calling on governments and leaders to end child marriage by increasing the minimum age to 18.
The report highlighted that "by 2020, some 142 million girls [around the world] will be married by their 18th birthday if current trends continue".
AFP