Lithuania

Based on 2022 Estimates by Statistics Lithuania, there are zero cases of marriage before age 18 in Lithuania.

Between 2014 and 2018, 300 marriages involving children were reportedly recorded by Statistics Lithuania; 263 of those involved a girl aged 17 or below.

Girls within the Roma community are disproportionately affected by child marriage.

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 Lithuania.

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

The government submitted a Voluntary National Review at the 2023 High Level Political Forum. In this review, the government noted the decline in child marriages. In 2021, there were 27 reported cases of child marriage, in comparison to 2018 where there were 43 reported cases of child marriage.

Lithuania 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, Lithuania also signed a joint statement at the Human Rights Council calling for a resolution on child marriage.

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

Lithuania acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which the Committee on the Rights of the Child has interpreted to recommend the establishment of a minimum age of marriage of 18, and acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1994, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.

During its 2024 review, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child recommended that the government remove all exceptions and adopt measures to prevent marriages below the age of 18 years old.

Lithuania has signed, but not ratified, the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combatting violence against women and domestic violence (known as the Istanbul Convention), which considers forced marriage a serious form of violence against women and girls, and legally binds state parties to criminalise the intentional conduct of forcing an adult or child into a marriage.

In 2016, the CEDAW Committee encouraged Lithuania to repeal provisions that lower the legal age of consent for marriage. In 2019, the CEDAW Committee called upon Lithuania again to amend the Civil Code and raise the minimum age of marriage for women and men to 18 years of age, without exception.

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

Under Article 3.14 of the Civil Code 2000 of the Republic of Lithuania, the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years old. However, individuals may marry at 16 years with approval from the courts. The lowest age for the request to be submitted is 15 years old and the exception for this age is only if the girl is pregnant.