Hungary

There is no publicly available government data on child marriage in Hungary.

According to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office, in 2018, 370 girls and 33 boys under the age of 18 were married. The age difference in most of these cases was no more than six years (parties being between the ages of 17-23).

Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that women and girls are somehow inferior to men and boys.

There is limited information on child marriage in Hungary, but available information suggest that it is exacerbated by:

Ethnicity: A 2013 study by the European Parliament highlighted that Romani girls in Hungary are particularly at risk of being married early due to the gender power dynamics within the family, strongly differentiated gender roles and the discrimination that Romani women face in accessing the labour market. Girls from the Roma community are at the highest risk of child marriage in Hungary. Within the Roma community living in Hungary, two types of marriages exist: firstly, marriages that are arranged by parents, and secondly, children that get married without parental consent.

Hungary has committed to ending child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The government has not submitted a Voluntary National Review in any High Level Political Forum to date.

Hungary co-sponsored the following Human Rights Council resolutions: the 2013 procedural resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2015 resolution on child, early and forced marriage, the 2017 resolution on recognising the need to address child, early and forced marriage in humanitarian contexts, the 2019 resolution on the consequences of child marriage, the 2021 resolution on child, early and forced marriage in times of crisis, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the 2023 resolution on ending and preventing forced marriage. In 2014, Hungary also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

Hungary co-sponsored the 2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2022 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.

Hungary ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1991, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1980, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2023 review, the CEDAW Committee expressed concern that although the legal minimum age of marriage is 18 years, under section 4:9 of the Civil Code, exceptions are allowed for marriage above the age of 16 with the approval of the guardianship authority. The Committee recommended that the government remove all exceptions to marriage below the age of 18 years, address child marriage including the root causes of child marriage, encourage the reporting and punishing of perpetrators of child marriage, and ensure the adequate punishment of perpetrators.

Both the CEDAW Committee, in 2013, and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, in 2020, have recommended that Hungary raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 in order to prevent child marriage. The Committee on the Rights of the Child raised that the Hungarian government should take measures to prevent a child under the age of 18 from marrying with a guardianship permit. Act V of the 2013 Civil Code does not specify the age for which a registered partnership can be established, which is a contributing factor to why there are no statistics for children under the age of 18 years living in a registered partnership.

At the London Girl Summit in July 2014, the government signed a charter committing to end child marriage by 2020.

Under the Marriage, Family and Guardianship Act the legal minimum age of marriage is 18 years in Hungary.

In Hungary, forcing a child into marriage is not a standalone crime, leaving cases undiscovered.

The Social and Guardianship Office may authorise marriages of persons between the ages of 16 and 18. The guardianship authority may grant permission for the marriage of a minor if it is considered to be in their best interests and the application for marriage has been submitted by the child by their own free will. One of the considerations in making this determination is whether the girl is pregnant. The minimum legal age for consensual sex is 12 years old, provided that the older partner is 18 years or younger.