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Spain raises legal marrying age

Spain has raised the legal marrying age from 14 to 16. It previously had the lowest marrying age in all of Europe. This meant that boys and girls could get married at age 14 with permission from a judge.

This change comes only months after the government raised age of consent from 13 to 16.

The government announced its changing of the law in April 2013, but this only came into effect on Thursday.

The change was welcomed by UNICEF and Spanish children’s rights groups.

From the BBC:

According to El Pais (in Spanish), only 365 marriages involving under-16s took place in Spain between 2000 and 2014 – with only five in 2014.

In the 1990s, however, there were 2,678 marriages involving at least one under-16 – and 12,867 in the 1980s.