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29 May 2026
Odesa region ranks 10th in terms of the number of marriages with minors
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PHOTO COLLAGE: Intent
Courts in Odesa region allowed 126 marriages with minors in 2021-2026.
This was reported by analysts of the Oppendatabot platform, citing data from the court register.
Overall, Odesa region is ranked 10th in Ukraine by this indicator. The first place was taken by Lviv region, where during this period the courts allowed 240 marriages with minors. Vinnytsia region followed with 187 decisions and Dnipropetrovs'k region with 175. Rivne and Volyn regions have 164 decisions each. Ivano-Frankivsk region is in fifth place with 152.
The rest of the top ten looks like this:
- Ternopil region - 150,
- Khmelnytskyi region - 141,
- Poltava region - 139,
- Zhytomyr region - 131,
- Odesa region - 126.
In Mykolaiv region, 86 such court decisions were registered over five years, and in Kherson region - 23.
In total, at least 2,874 decisions on underage marriage have been made by Ukrainian courts over the past five years. In 98% of cases, the courts sided with the applicants. A record number of decisions were made in 2021 - 790. Since then, the number has been gradually decreasing: in 2022, the courts considered 641 cases, and in 2025 - 356. This year, there are already 92 decisions.
In more than 72% of cases, pregnancy remains the main argument for the courts to allow minors to marry - 2,252 decisions. In another quarter of cases, the courts explained that the permission was in the general interest of the applicants - 704 decisions. The presence of a joint child was the reason for the permit in 97 cases.
The reasons for refusals are also quite typical. In three out of four cases, the courts found that the applicants had failed to prove why the marriage was in their best interests - 36 decisions. Another seven cases were dismissed due to the absence of a dispute. In five cases, the applicant was denied because he or she had not reached the age of 16, which is the age at which Ukrainian law allows for the right to marry.
