Over 128K Minor Marriage Applications Filed over 2017-2021

128,391 applications to authorize minors get married were filed between 2017 and 2021, with a rate of 25,678 requests yearly, according to the Higher Council of Judiciary.
The Moroccan family law sets 18 as the age of maturity, with the legal capacity to contract marriage (article 19). However, there are some exceptions where a minor can be wed if a number of conditions are met such as parental permission.
The Council’s report on “The Family Justice in Morocco” shows that the number of applications to marry a minor submitted to family courts was generally invariable, but it witnessed a slight 4.8% decrease in 2018.
Such requests reached its lowest level in 2020 due to the spread of Coronavirus that affected the activity of courts.
The report added that 10.88% of marriage applications were for underage marriages, i.e. 25, 678 out of 235,846 requests yearly.
The report revealed that the court approved 46% of such applications for minor marriage, which represents 5% of the total requests.