From the Song to the Ching dynasties, the age of marriage was set at 16 for men and 14 for women. In the ancient times, the population of China was around 60-70 million before the Ching dynasty.
The 1980 law also states that marriage must be a willing action where coercion by a third party is strictly not permitted. The age requirement for marriage is 22 years of age for men and 20 years of age for women and the 1980 law also encouraged late marriage and later child birth.
Men would usually marry in their mid-twenties, while women married while they were still in their early teens. As they reached these ages, their parents would consult with friends to find suitable partners that could improve the family's wealth or class. For this reason, there were specific laws governing marriage.
Under Chinese law, men can marry from 22 and women from 20.
Chinese marriage became a custom between 402 and 221 BC. Despite China's long history and many different geographical areas, there are essentially six rituals, generally known as the three letters and six etiquettes (三書六禮).
Bad Luck in Age Difference
But in Chinese culture, there's a superstition about the age difference. It's bad luck to date or marry someone with an age difference of either 3 or 6 years from you, older or younger. So if you're 25, you shouldn't date someone who is 22 or 31.
Similarly, in Equatorial Guinea and São Tomé and Principe, children can marry at the age of 14 with their parents' consent but have to wait until they are 18 otherwise. There are a considerably high number of countries that allow children to marry at the age of 15 and 16 as long as their legal guardians sign off on it.
Under the Japanese Civil Code the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for boys and 16 years for girls. A person who is under 20 years of age cannot get married in Japan without parental approval. From April 1, 2022, the amendment of the Civil Code will be in effect.
An analysis of UN data shows that the oldest grooms in the world can be found in Estonia, while the oldest brides live in Slovenia and get married at a median age of 34 years.
In the middle ages, girls were typically in their teens when they married, and boys were in their early twenties. The arrangement of the marriage was based on monetary worth. The family of the girl who was to be married would give a dowry, or donation, to the boy she was to marry.
In 18th-century America, the typical age of marriage for middle-to-upper class white women was 22 and 26 for men. Women began courting as early as 15 or 16, but most delayed marriage until their early twenties. The years of courtship were a time when 18th-century women could enjoy some freedom and power.
You could get married as soon as you hit puberty – and parental consent was not required. Marriage was the only acceptable place for sex in the medieval period, and as a result Christians were allowed to marry from puberty onwards, generally seen at the time as age 12 for women and 14 for men.
From the mid-1970s until 2018 there was a steady and ongoing increase in the median age of men and women at first marriage. This upward trend halted between 2018 and 2020 but continued again in 2021. In 2021 the median age of men was 30.8 years, and women 29.4 years.
China ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1992, which sets 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.
In South Korea, the legal age of marriage is 18 years with no exceptions. Under Article 807 of the Civil Code 2011 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years.
Laws that apply anywhere in Australia
Legal drinking age – you must be 18 or older to buy alcohol or to drink alcohol in a licensed venue. Selling alcohol – it's illegal to sell alcohol to anyone under 18 or to someone who is already drunk.
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's parliament on Friday raised the age of sexual consent to 16 from 13, a limit which had remained unchanged for more than a century and was among the world's lowest, amid calls for greater protection of children and women. The revision was part of a revamping of laws related to sex crimes.
Age of Consent in Asia
The age of consent in China is 14 years old, but it is illegal to engage in sexual activity with a minor under the age of 14. The age of consent in India is 18 years old, and engaging in sexual activity with a minor under the age of 18 is considered a serious crime.
Setting the legal age for girls to marry at 18 aims to protect their rights and well-being and prevent child marriage. 18 years and above is the legal age to get married and never below that.
What is the minimum legal framework around marriage? Under Article 12 of the Family Code 1997 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for both men and women.
More than half of all states allow parties between the ages of 16 and 18 to be married based on parental consent alone. Fifteen states allow parties younger than age 16 to be married; depending on the state, the exception is based on judicial approval and/or if one party is pregnant or has had a child3.
Niger has the highest child marriage rate in the world among girls. According to the most recent data, in this West African country, more than three fourths of girls aged under 18 were married, with nearly 30 percent of them being younger than 15 years old.
in Muslim contexts
❖ Setting the minimum age of marriage at 18 is 'un-Islamic' because it goes against the practice of the Prophet Muhammad, who married Aishah when she was six years old, and consummated the marriage when she reached puberty at the age of nine.