Baden-Württemberg has officially registered 358 child marriages since 2012, according to a state government response to a parliamentary inquiry. The Interior Ministry said its work concerns marriages contracted abroad. Eight marriages were legally annulled between 2018 and 2024; the remaining 350 proceedings were closed through other routes. Reasons included the death of a spouse, reaching adulthood, a decision not to pursue annulment or a subsequent marriage abroad. These closures therefore did not constitute legally binding annulments.
Among the annulled marriages was that of an Iraqi girl, aged 11 at the time of marriage, to a 17-year-old Iraqi boy. It was annulled in 2020. A marriage involving a 14-year-old Afghan girl and a 30-year-old man was ended in 2018. Two annulments in 2024 involved 16-year-old girls: a German girl married to a 25-year-old Pakistani man, and a Syrian girl married to a 27-year-old Syrian man. Germany's law combating child marriage took effect in 2017, followed by new rules in 2024 protecting minors married abroad. No annulment proceedings were pending when the government responded.
Separately, the state-funded YASEMIN counselling centre recorded 271 cases in 2025. Of these, 80 involved people facing the threat of forced marriage, including 33 minors. Four were younger than 12, five were 12 and two were 13. In Germany, marriage is permitted only upon reaching adulthood, while forced marriage constitutes a separate criminal offence. The parliamentary inquiry followed an emergency checklist for teaching staff published by the women's rights organisation Terre des Femmes in July 2026.
