Hundreds of child marriages have been documented in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, but only eight have been annulled through legally binding decisions. Among the cases is an eleven-year-old Iraqi girl who was married off to a 17-year-old, and a twelve-year-old Syrian girl who was married to a 28-year-old man.

The information comes from an official agency response published on October 7 following a parliamentary question from the immigration-critical party Alternative for Germany (AfD). The review shows that authorities have registered a total of 358 cases of marriages in which at least one of the parties was a minor.

Of these, only eight marriages have been annulled through legally binding decisions. Another 350 cases have been closed without such a decision, according to the official document from the state parliament.

The material primarily involves people with foreign citizenship, including citizens of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkey, and Bulgaria. There are also cases involving Pakistani citizens and individuals with German citizenship.

Eleven-year-old Married to Iraqi Boy

One of the youngest children in the material was an Iraqi girl who was only eleven years old when she was married off to a 17-year-old Iraqi. The marriage was annulled in 2020.

Another case concerns an Afghan girl who was 14 years old when she married a 30-year-old Afghan man. That marriage was annulled in 2018. The following year, a marriage between a 15-year-old Afghan girl and a 24-year-old man from the same country was annulled.

As recently as 2024, two other marriages were annulled. In one, a 16-year-old German girl was married to a 25-year-old Pakistani man. In the other, a 16-year-old Syrian girl was married to a 27-year-old Syrian man.

Among the 350 cases that were closed without formal annulment, there are examples of very young girls who had been married to much older men.

In 2022, a case was registered involving a twelve-year-old Syrian girl and a 28-year-old Syrian man. The following year documented a marriage between a twelve-year-old Afghan girl and a 21-year-old Afghan man.

350 Cases Without Annulment

The responsible authority, Regierungspräsidium Tübingen, has had statewide responsibility for these cases since 2012. According to the agency’s response, 350 cases between 2015 and 2026 have been closed by means other than a legally binding annulment of the marriage.

In some cases, the minor had turned 18 before the decision became legally binding, which according to the regulations can change the legal status of the marriage. Other cases may have been closed due to the death of a spouse, the authorities choosing not to request annulment, or the couple remarrying abroad.

The 350 cases, therefore, do not necessarily mean that as many child marriages still exist. However, the figures show that only a small portion of the registered cases have resulted in a formal annulment.

In Germany, the main rule is that both parties must be at least 18 years old to marry. The rules were tightened in 2017 and changed again in 2024 when the Bundestag passed new regulations concerning the handling of marriages entered abroad with underage parties.

Authorities Lack Information

It was AfD politicians Nikolaos Boutakoglou and Emely Knorr who requested the data. The background included, among other things, that the state Ministry of Education this summer published informational material from the women’s rights organization Terre des Femmes about the risk of schoolchildren being taken abroad during holidays to be forced into marriage.

The politicians wanted, among other things, to know how many students since 2010 had been forced into marriage and then disappeared from regular school instruction, despite still being subject to compulsory education.

The Ministry of Education’s response was that no such statistics are collected. Authorities therefore cannot report how many students have left schooling as a consequence of forced marriage.

In 2025, the agency registered 271 counseling cases. Of these, 80 concerned individuals threatened with forced marriage. A total of 33 of those threatened were minors, with four being under twelve years of age. Five more were twelve years old and two were thirteen.

Child Marriages Linked to Immigration

The documented cases have attracted attention in both German and British media. For example, Daily Mail has reported on the girls who were married off and the many cases that have not resulted in marriages being annulled.

The authorities do not have a complete record of the countries in which the marriages originally took place. According to the state government’s response to AfD’s questions, there were no ongoing court proceedings regarding the annulment of child marriages at the time of reporting.