Family
No comprehensive family code; Islamic and customary law applied through Article 51
Niger has no unified family code. Personal status is governed by custom and Islamic law under a 1962 statute directing courts to apply the parties' custom, with polygamy permitted. Child marriage prevalence is the highest in the world.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — Ordinary courts apply the parties' custom in personal status matters, sitting with customary assessors.
- Deadline — Birth registration: 30 days
- Deadline — Divorce: before the Tribunal applying the parties' custom
Governing law
- Loi n° 62-11 du 16 mars 1962 sur l'organisation et la compétence des juridictionsArticle 51 on applicable custom
- Code civilFrench, retained for civil marriage
- Loi n° 2019-33 relative à la protection de l'enfant
In practice
Repeated attempts to enact a family code have failed against religious opposition, so Niger's courts apply the custom of the parties — Islamic law for most — with assessors advising on its content. The statutory marriage age remains 15 for girls under the retained Code civil provisions, and Niger has the world's highest rate of child marriage, an issue on which ECOWAS and treaty bodies have pressed reform.