site.btaEarly Child Marriages Declining in Bulgaria, Experts Say

Recent studies indicate a trend towards a decrease in child marriages in Bulgaria. Data from a study from the mid-1990s show that early marriages among the Roma community were close to 80%, recent studies indicate that they have gone down  below 30%,  executive director and founder of the CEGA Foundation Rumyan Sechkov, told BTA.

He took part in the international final conference on the Dream UP Aim UP! Project: on integrated community-centered services for the prevention of child marriages among the Roma in Bulgaria. The conference presented the results of two years of expert work, including an analysis of field research in Roma communities and focus groups with professionals, as well as a developed legal framework and recommendations for overcoming early marriages in Bulgaria. The project is implemented by the consortium: CEGA Foundation, Roma-Lom Foundation and the Zakrilnitsi Association, with funding from the CERV-DAPHNE programme of the European Union.

According to studies as of 1994, about 80% of Roma start families before reaching adulthood. Since the second half of the 1990s and the beginning of the 21st century, the trend towards reducing this share and preserving early marriages mainly among the poorest and least educated families/young people has been increasing.

The opinion of the Roma about child marriages is mainly negative, explained Sechkov. The opinion of the Roma, who are rather neutral towards child marriages, is due to the fact that early marriages have been a tradition over the years.

The National Statistical Institute recorded a relatively low but alarming rate of officially registered child marriages concluded with court permission, ranging between 1.7% and 2.31% of all marriages in the 2016-2020 period . In 2021, another 423 new child marriages were registered, of which only 21 involved men under 18, and in 2022 there were another 374 child marriages, of which 19 were with men under 18.

With the changes to the Family Code from the end of 2023, the possibility of marrying a minor, regardless of the circumstances, was abolished, conference participants said.

According to them, these 3,720 officially married young people in 2016-2022 are only a small part of the real number of cohabitations of minors. The 3,547 officially registered child brides during this period are just the tip of the iceberg, experts said. The vast majority of child marriages are not officially registered. Moreover, these data only refer to girls aged 16-17, who can marry with parental consent.

According to a nationally representative sociological survey among Roma communities from January 2020, the average age of marriage among Roma living in segregated neighborhoods is 18 years and 11 months.

For comparison, the average age of marriage among Roma living in territories with a predominantly Bulgarian or mixed population is 19 years and 8 months. About half of them got married between the ages of 19–25. The share of those who married before reaching the age of 18 was 39.8%.

The study covers 10 isolated Roma and ethnic communities across the country, selected according to criteria that represent the diversity among these communities, determined by ethnic and subgroup self-identification, native tongue, traditions, religion, levels of poverty, social exclusion, and tendencies towards marginalization.