The key facts

  • Since 2012, 358 child marriages have been registered in the state, only eight annulled (2018–2024)
  • Among the cases is the marriage of an 11-year-old Iraqi girl to a 17-year-old, annulled in 2020
  • In 2025, the YASEMIN counseling center recorded 80 cases of threatened forced marriage, 33 of the victims being minors

358 child marriages, only eight annulments

In the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg, 358 so-called child marriages have been officially registered since 2012. Only eight of them have been legally annulled — all between 2018 and 2024. The remaining 350 cases, according to the authorities, ended in other ways. This information is contained in the state government's response to a minor interpellation by AfD members of the state parliament Nikolaos Boutakoglou and Emeli Knorr. The records are kept by the Tübingen district government; the response was prepared by the interior ministry. According to the ministry, these are exclusively marriages concluded abroad.

Documented annulments

Among the annulled marriages is the union of an 11-year-old girl from Iraq with a 17-year-old Iraqi, terminated in 2020. In 2018, the marriage of a 14-year-old Afghan girl to a 30-year-old man was dissolved. In 2024, two more marriages were annulled: that of a 16-year-old German girl to a 25-year-old Pakistani and that of a 16-year-old Syrian girl to a 27-year-old compatriot. The 2023 statistics include a 12-year-old citizen of Afghanistan who was married to a 21-year-old Afghan; girls aged 13 and 14 appear in the data repeatedly. The most recent records date to 2026 and include marriages of 16- and 17-year-old girls to adult men. At the time the response was prepared, there were no annulment proceedings for child marriages pending in the courts.

What happened to the other marriages

The state government cites among the reasons for the ending of the other cases the death of one spouse, reaching the age of majority, withdrawal of the annulment request, or conclusion of a new marriage abroad — no legally significant annulment occurred in these cases. Nikolaos Boutakoglou wrote on Facebook that «shocking facts» had come to light, that the subject is «truly horrifying», but remains taboo. Emeli Knorr stated on Instagram: «Marriages involving children are incompatible with our values. Children have the right to safety, education, and a future they can determine for themselves».

No data on schoolchildren or countries

The deputies also asked about the impact of forced marriages on schooling. The ministry of education and culture reported that such data is not collected. The state government also has no information on the countries where the marriages were concluded — only the age and citizenship of the spouses at the time of marriage are recorded, since this information is important for possible annulment proceedings. The government-funded counseling center YASEMIN does not keep statistics of inquiries broken down by pupil status or school year — data is classified by the age of the victims and calendar years, and the exact number of consultations remains unclear.

YASEMIN statistics and legal context

In the 2025 calendar year, YASEMIN registered 271 consultations; in 80 cases people were threatened with forced marriage, 33 of them minors: four under 12, five aged 12, and two aged 13. According to the deputies, the reason for the parliamentary query was the emergency bulletin published at the end of July 2026 by the human rights organization Terre des Femmes, addressed primarily to educators. Since summer 2017, a law against child marriages has been in force in Germany; in 2024, the Bundestag adopted new rules protecting minors in marriages concluded abroad. Under German law, children are persons under 14, while under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child they are under 18; marriage in Germany is permitted only after reaching the age of majority, and forced marriage is singled out in the Criminal Code as a separate offence. Baden-Württemberg, with a population of about 11.24 million, accounts for almost 13.5% of Germany's population (approximately 83.5 million).