MADRID, July 23 (UPI) -- Spain on Thursday raised its minimum legal age for marriage from 14 up to 16 years after recommendations from the United Nations and European Union.
A judge previously could have allowed 14 year olds to marry if requested. Spain also recently raised its legal age of sexual consent from 13 to 16.
Most other E.U. members' lowest minimum age for marriage is 16.
"15 years is not old enough to marry," María del Mar Lozano, 54, who married at 16, told EL PAÍS. "It is time for children to have fun, to be formed for the future and not have the responsibility of having to bring up a family."
Nearly 29,000 children aged 15 or less have been married in Spain since 1975, but since 2000, only about 360 have married.
Ukraine, Estonia and Andorra are the last remaining European countries to allow marriage under 16 years of age.
