Official Statistics

Forced Marriage Unit statistics 2024

Published 3 July 2025

1. Key Points

In 2024, the joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) received 812 contacts related to a possible forced marriage and/or possible female genital mutilation (FGM).^{[footnote 1]} This figure includes contact that was made to the FMU through its public helpline or by email in relation to a new case and comprises 229 cases of forced marriage where advice and support were provided, 11 cases of FGM where advice and support were provided and 572 forced marriage enquiries.

All percentages and analysis throughout this document relate to the figure of 240 (which includes both the forced marriage and FGM advice and support cases). This figure is not directly comparable to that of 2020, or to those of years prior to that, owing to the further embedding of a change in recording practices allowing for advice and support cases to be recorded separately from forced marriage enquiries.

An ‘advice and support case’ is a case in which the FMU is provided with full details of a specific individual at risk of, or affected by, forced marriage (or, where there is an overseas angle, FGM), and actively provides advice and support for as long as is required.

A ‘forced marriage enquiry’ is one where the FMU is asked to provide general advice and/or signposting to other sources of guidance or information without requiring continuous actions or support by the FMU. These include historical forced marriages where advice about divorce or annulment is requested, how to apply for a Forced Marriage Protection Order, immigration advice about foreign spouses and so on. In previous data releases we called these ‘general enquiries’ but the name has been changed to ‘forced marriage enquiries’ to better represent the nature of this contact with the FMU.

These statistics only represent the cases that have been reported to the FMU, and where the FMU has actively given advice or support. Forced marriage is a hidden crime, and these figures will not reflect the full scale of the abuse. To better understand the prevalence of forced marriage in England and Wales, the Home Office is considering the findings of the feasibility study it commissioned in 2024. This was conducted by the University of Birmingham and University of Nottingham, and it explored how accurate estimations of the prevalence of forced marriage and FGM in England and Wales might be made.

Of the cases in which the FMU provided advice or support in 2024:

• 83 cases (35%) involved victims aged 17 and under
• 81 cases (34%) involved victims aged 18 to 25
• 63 cases (26%) involved victims with mental capacity concerns
• 171 cases (71%) involved female victims, and 69 cases (29%) involved male victims

Forced marriage is not a problem specific to one country, religion or culture. In recent years, the FMU has handled cases relating to countries across 5 continents.

In 2024, the FMU handled cases relating to 34 ‘focus countries’, excluding the UK. The ‘focus country’ is the country to which the forced marriage risk relates. This could be the country where the forced marriage (or FGM) is due to take place, the country where it has taken place, and/or the country that the spouse is currently residing in. The ‘focus countries’ (other than the UK) with the highest number of cases in 2024 were:

• Pakistan 107 cases (45%)
• Bangladesh 30 cases (13%)
• Afghanistan 16 cases (7%)
• India 6 cases (3%)
• Somalia^{[footnote 2]} 6 cases (3%)
• Nigeria 5 cases (2%)

The majority (82%) of victims were in the UK at the time the case was referred to the FMU.

In 2024, 15 cases (6%) had no overseas element, with the potential or actual forced marriage taking place entirely within the UK. This is an increase from 8 cases in 2022 (3%) and 10 cases in 2023 (4%). It continues to highlight that forced marriages can and do take place in the UK.

This document is accompanied by a data sheet which contains the figures quoted in this report. Categories containing data relating to fewer than 5 cases have been recorded as ‘[x]’ to preserve the anonymity of victims.

1.1 Awareness Raising and Outreach Activity

The FMU runs training workshops for frontline professionals (including police, social workers and registrars of marriage) on how to support victims of forced marriage. The unit also conducts bespoke presentations on request to local authorities, non-governmental organisations, health officials and other organisations. The FMU has placed a greater emphasis on prevention and early intervention in recent years and made substantial efforts to raise awareness of forced marriage amongst professionals and provide guidance on how best to support victims at an early stage.

In the last 3 years a greater number of outreach events have taken place with the aim of raising awareness amongst professionals and building their capability on how best to support victims. The numbers of people in receipt of this training and awareness raising activity has risen considerably in recent years: in 2024, the FMU delivered training to 3,655 professionals in England and Wales. This builds on previous years in which the unit delivered training to 3,656 professionals in 2023 and 1,537 in 2022.

In 2024 the unit also delivered training to groups including health professionals, local authorities, Border Force staff and community groups.

In addition, in 2024, over 5,800 people from a wide range of professions took the Government’s ‘Awareness of Forced Marriage’ free online course and passed. The FMU has also been asked to attend more safeguarding meetings organised by local authorities and the police.

The numbers highlight a significant increase in outreach work over the past 2 years.

2. Overview

2.1 What is Forced Marriage?

A forced marriage is one in which a person uses violence, threats or another form of coercion to cause someone else to enter into a marriage and believes (or ought reasonably to believe) that their actions may cause that other person to enter into the marriage without free and full consent.

Coercion may include emotional pressure, physical force (or the threat of it), and financial pressure. It is a criminal offence to force someone into a marriage or to deceive them into travelling overseas for this purpose.

It is also a forced marriage to do anything to cause an adult who lacks the relevant mental capacity to enter into a marriage, even if a form of coercion is not used. Since the Marriage and Civil Partnership (Minimum Age) Act 2022 came into force on 27 February 2023, that same provision has applied to minors. As well as raising the minimum age of marriage and civil partnership to 18 in all circumstances in England and Wales, that legislation expanded the ambit of the criminal offence of forced marriage in England and Wales so it is an offence to carry out any conduct for the purpose of causing a child to marry before their eighteenth birthday, even if violence, threats or any other form of coercion are not used.

In contrast to a forced marriage, when it comes to the marriage of an adult, in an arranged marriage both parties have consented to the union but can still refuse to marry if they choose to. This distinction between forced and arranged marriages used to apply to individuals aged 16 to 18, but since 27 February 2023 it no longer does – what previously would have been considered an arranged marriage of a child is now deemed a forced marriage and is illegal.

2.2 The Forced Marriage Unit (FMU)

The FMU is a joint Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) unit. It was established in 2005 to lead on the Government’s forced marriage outreach and casework, and to support with forced marriage policy. The FMU’s approach is focused on 4 pillars:

1. Supporting victims or potential victims of forced marriage or FGM through the FMU helpline and inbox by providing empathetic, victim-focused advice and guidance working with safeguarding professionals and relevant organisations.

2. Building capability and confidence among safeguarding professionals and relevant organisations in England and Wales to enable them to effectively support victims and potential victims of forced marriage and FGM by, for example: encouraging them to act in line with guidance, sharing expertise, providing overseas context where relevant and engaging in multi-agency strategy meetings.

3. Promoting prevention and early intervention through a targeted outreach and communications programme across England and Wales to both upskill safeguarding professionals and relevant organisations on how to manage forced marriage and FGM cases and to raise awareness among the public, professionals and communities.

4. Providing expertise and feeding in the views from expert stakeholders to help inform effective national policy and guidance on forced marriage and FGM. This includes collaborating with sector stakeholders to unearth emerging issues, common challenges and best practice to share with wider partners.

The unit operates both inside the UK, where support is provided to any individual, and overseas, where consular assistance is provided to British nationals, including dual nationals. The unit also leads on consular casework relating to British national victims of FGM who are overseas.

The FMU operates a helpline from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday (+44 (0) 20 7008 0151). Outside of these hours, consular assistance can be requested 24/7 by contacting the nearest overseas British Embassy, High Commission or Consulate, or by calling 020 7008 5000 in the UK. The FMU typically receives information about a forced marriage from either the person at risk, from a friend or a relative, or from professionals within agencies charged with responsibility for safeguarding children and adults with care and support needs.

This publication provides information on the number of cases reported to the FMU via its public helpline and email inbox from 1 January 2024 to 31 December 2024 where advice and support have been provided. The FMU logs all relevant calls and emails received to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the records. The main categories of data that are captured by the FMU include (if volunteered, as some callers may wish to remain anonymous):

• details of the caller/source of information
• focus country
• UK region where the victim/potential victim lives
• sex, age, location and nationality of the person at risk
• disability – be it physical, learning or both, and/or any condition that may affect mental capacity

The FMU does not record data on religion; no major faith in the UK advocates forced marriage. Freely given consent is a prerequisite of, for example, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim and Sikh marriages.

The FMU privacy notice is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/fcdo-and-home-office-privacy-notice-forced-marriage-unit-fmu.

Further information about forced marriage and the work of the FMU is available on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/forced-marriage, by emailing fmu@fcdo.gov.uk or by writing to:

Forced Marriage Unit
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
Consular Directorate
King Charles Street
London

SW1A 2AH

Telephone: +44 (0)20 7008 0151

3. Forced Marriage Unit Statistics

In 2024, the Forced Marriage Unit (FMU) gave advice or support in 240 cases related to a possible forced marriage or possible female genital mutilation (FGM). This does not include 572 forced marriage enquiries the unit received, which required signposting to relevant advice without requiring continuous actions or support by the FMU.

The 240 cases in 2024 represents a 15% decrease on the number of cases received in 2023 (283).

This is unlikely to be indicative of a decrease in the prevalence of forced marriage in the UK, for which the FMU’s statistics are not a good guide; the statistics relate only to those cases reported to the unit and so the 15% fall could be a result of many different factors, for example, the increase in the level of the unit’s outreach activity empowering professionals to handle forced marriage cases without the FMU’s assistance, new legislation raising the age of marriage to 18 in England and Wales and greater media publicity about forced marriage being illegal in the UK.

The number of FGM cases rose from 3 in 2023 to 11 in 2024 and the number of forced marriage enquiries rose from 519 in 2023 to 572 in 2024.

Of the 240 cases in which the FMU provided advice or support in 2024:

• 28 cases related to a ‘reluctant sponsor’^{[footnote 3]}
• 11 cases related only to FGM where the victim or potential victim was overseas
• 63 cases related to mental capacity concerns

Owing to changes in recording practices, the data in 2024 is not directly comparable with that from before 2020.

Table 1: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, 2011 to 2024

Year	Number
2011	1,468
2012	1,485
2013	1,302
2014	1,267
2015	1,220
2016	1,428
2017	1,196
2018	1,507
2019	1,355
2020	759[footnote 4]
2021	337[footnote 5]
2022	302
2023	283
2024	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

4. Sources of referrals

Every year the Forced Marriage Unit receives referrals from a variety of sources. The majority of these come from professionals charged with safeguarding responsibilities, such as the police, social services and education professionals. In 2024, 58 cases (24% of referrals) were made by social services, 30 cases (13%) by the police, and 20 cases (8%) by education professionals.

In 64 cases (27%) the referral was made by the Home Office - these were mostly related to reluctant sponsor cases or where capacity concerns were highlighted either by Home Office officials or other professionals.

There were 24 cases (10%) which were made by victims seeking support and guidance. The remaining 18% of cases were referred by friends, partners, family members, colleagues, health professionals, NGOs and others.

Table 2 and Chart 1 below show the monthly breakdown of cases referred to the FMU.

Table 2: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, by month, 2024

Month	Numbers	Percentages[footnote 6]
January	23	10%
February	19	8%
March	28	12%
April	20	8%
May	42	18%
June	15	6%
July	22	9%
August	16	7%
September	12	5%
October	12	5%
November	18	8%
December	13	5%
Total	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

Chart 1: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice and support, by month, in 2024

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

The following sections provide further information about the cases that the FMU handled in 2024.

5. Sex of victims

In 2024, 171 cases (71%) involved female victims and 69 cases (29%) involved male victims. This reinforces that forced marriage is a crime which disproportionately affects women, but that men can also be victims. Men were particularly represented in cases where the victim had mental capacity concerns. In 2023, 69% of victims were female and 31% male.

6. Age of victims

In 2024, 15% of the cases involved victims who were aged 15 and under and 19% of cases involved victims who were aged 16 to 17. In comparison to 2023, this represents an increase of 9 percentage points regarding cases in which the victim was aged 17 years or under.

A total of 21% of cases were known to be aged 18 to 21 (18% in 2023) and 13% were known to be aged 22 to 25 (16% in 2023).

Cases concerning young children often involve the ‘promise’ of a future marriage (betrothal), or the younger sibling of someone at a direct risk, rather than an imminent marriage. The case numbers also include cases of FGM, which often involves child victims.

In 2024, 11% of cases involved victims who were aged 26 to 30 and 18% who were aged 31 and over. In 3% of the cases the age of the person was unknown.

Table 3: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, by age, 2024

Age	Numbers	Percentages
15 and under	37	15%
16-17	46	19%
18-21	50	21%
22-25	31	13%
26-30	26	11%
31-40	31	13%
41+	11	5%
Unknown	8	3%
Total	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

7. Nationality of victims

In 2024, 74% of victims (178 cases) were British nationals, including dual nationals and 18% of victims (44 cases) were non-British nationals (including EU nationals). The nationality of the individual was unknown in 8% of cases (18 cases).

Table 4: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, by nationality, 2024

	Numbers	Percentages
British national (including dual national)	178	74%
Non-British national	44	18%
Unknown	18	8%
Total number of cases	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

8. UK regions where victims live

As in recent years, in 2024 the UK regions associated with the greatest number of cases were London, West Midlands and the North West, together accounting for 55% of referrals (59% in 2023). The proportions of referrals from other regions remained broadly similar to previous years.

Table 5: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, by region, 2024

UK Region	Number of cases	Percentage of cases
London	59	25%
West Midlands	36	15%
North West	35	15%
Yorkshire & The Humber	32	13%
East	17	7%
East Midlands	16	7%
South East	13	5%
South West	9	4%
Scotland	[x]	[x]
North East	[x]	[x]
Wales	[x]	[x]
Unknown	14	6%
Total	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

9. Focus country overview

The ‘focus country’ is the country to which the risk of forced marriage relates. This could be the country where the forced marriage is due to take place, the country where it has taken place, and/or the country in which the spouse is currently residing.

In 2024, the FMU handled cases relating to the UK and 34 ‘focus countries’.

Table 6: Number of cases in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, by focus country, 2024

Focus Country	Numbers	Percentages
Pakistan	107	45%
Bangladesh	30	13%
Afghanistan	16	7%
UK	15	6%
India	6	3%
Somalia	6	3%
Nigeria	5	2%
Other (28 countries)	46	19%
Unknown	9	4%
Total	240

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

10. Focus countries breakdown^{[footnote 7]}

10.1 Pakistan

Pakistan is routinely the ‘focus country’ with the largest number of cases of forced marriages reported to the FMU.

There were 107 cases (45% of the total 240 cases) linked to Pakistan as the focus country in 2024, of those 65% were female and 35% male. In 84% of these cases the victim was in the UK, with support provided to 26 cases pre-marriage and 64 cases post-marriage. In 15% of the cases, victims were overseas when the referral was made. In such cases, support is usually delivered through a combination of consular staff in-country and FMU staff in the UK.^{[footnote 8]}

22 cases (21%) linked to Pakistan involved victims who were known to be aged 17 and under, and 32 cases (30%) were known to be aged 18 to 21.

The most common UK regions linked to cases involving Pakistan were the North West, the West Midlands, London and Yorkshire & The Humber, together accounting for 74% of these cases.

10.2 Bangladesh

Bangladesh was linked to 30 cases (13%) in 2024, with 83% of the referrals made when the victims were known to be in the UK. Of the 30 cases, 57% of the victims helped were female and 43% were male.

Six cases (20%) linked to Bangladesh involved victims who were known to be aged 17 and under.

London was the region involving the largest number of cases linked to Bangladesh with 8 referrals to the FMU (27%).

10.3 Afghanistan

Afghanistan was linked to 16 cases (7%) in 2024 and 69% of those referrals were made when the victim was known to be in the UK.

Eleven cases (69%) linked to Afghanistan involved victims who were known to be aged 17 and under.

London was the region involving the largest number of cases linked to Afghanistan with 11 referrals to the FMU (69%).

11. Victims with mental capacity concerns^{[footnote 9]}

In 2024, 63 cases (26%) involved victims whose mental capacity to consent to marriage was in doubt. The sex and age breakdown of those victims, as well as the focus countries, are shown in Table 7.

Victims with mental capacity concerns were more likely to be male (67%) and older (59% of victims were known to be over the age of 26) than in cases on average.

Table 7: Number of cases involving a victim with mental capacity concerns in which the Forced Marriage Unit gave advice or support, 2024

Sex	Numbers	Percentages
Male	42	67%
Female	21	33%
Age Range
15 and under	[x]	[x]
16-17	[x]	[x]
18-21	12	19%
22-25	11	17%
26-30	13	21%
31-40	16	25%
41+	8	13%
Unknown	[x]	[x]
Focus Country
Pakistan	39	62%
Bangladesh	10	16%
Afghanistan	[x]	[x]
United Kingdom	[x]	[x]
Other (7 countries)	8	13%
Unknown	[x]	[x]
UK Region
West Midlands	12	19%
North West	12	19%
London	9	14%
South East	[x]	[x]
Yorkshire & The Humber	18	29%
South West	[x]	[x]
Wales	[x]	[x]
East	[x]	[x]
East Midlands	[x]	[x]
Scotland	[x]	[x]
North East	[x]	[x]
Unknown	[x]	[x]
Total number of cases involving someone with mental capacity concerns	63

Source: Forced Marriage Unit; Home Office and Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office

12. Status of the marriage

The status of the marriage is recorded under 4 categories. These categories are:

• ‘UK Pre’ (this means that the victim is in the UK and the marriage is yet to take place; the marriage could be in the UK or overseas)
• ‘UK Post’ (the victim is in the UK and the marriage has taken place)^{[footnote 10]}
• ‘Overseas Pre’ (the victim is overseas, and the marriage is yet to take place)
• ‘Overseas Post’ (the victim is overseas, and the marriage has taken place)

The risks for the victims are different at each point. When a victim is overseas, the need for support is often more urgent because it can mean that the wedding is imminent. The security and legal situation in certain countries or regions within countries also affects the level of consular support which the FMU is able to offer.

In 2024, 125 cases (52%) were referred to the FMU once the marriage had taken place. In 118 of these cases the victims were in the UK and in 7 cases the victims were overseas when the referral was made.

In 2024, 107 cases (45%) were referred to the FMU prior to the marriage taking place. In 75 of these cases the victims were in the UK and in 31 cases the victims were overseas when the referral was made to the FMU.

In general, the earlier the FMU is contacted, the greater the range of options available to help support the victim and mitigate the risk of a forced marriage taking place. As a result of an extensive outreach programme being delivered by the FMU in recent years, the FMU have been requested to attend a greater number of strategy meetings organised by the safeguarding professionals. These have resulted in early intervention being made.

13. Repatriations

In 2024, the FMU provided practical help or advice to support the repatriations^{[footnote 11]} of 5 individuals. Repatriation figures are not fully representative of the assistance provided to forced marriage victims overseas.

For example, the figures do not include cases where:

• a Forced Marriage Protection Order^{[footnote 12]} was used to facilitate direct repatriation without practical involvement from the FMU
• victims did not require assistance from the FCDO to return to the UK
• direct contact with the victim resulted in no further assistance being required by the victim
• the victim was not a British national and so not eligible for consular assistance (safeguarding advice by the FMU was still provided)

1. The FMU can provide assistance relating to FGM which has affected or may affect UK nationals (including dual nationals) who are overseas. ↩

2. Including Somaliland. ↩

3. This is when assistance is provided when an individual who is being forced / pressured to sponsor a visa application for a spouse to come to the UK. ↩

4. This figure is not directly comparable to those of previous years, owing principally to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, and to a lesser degree to a change in recording practices. ↩

5. This figure, and those relating to 2022, 2023 and 2024 are not directly comparable to that of 2020, or to those of years prior to that, owing to the further embedding of a change in recording practices. ↩

6. Percentages in this and some other tables do not sum to 100, owing to rounding. ↩

7. See the figures and tables spreadsheet for a further data breakdown for Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. ↩

8. In the remaining cases, the location of the victim was unknown. ↩

9. Cases involving victims with a suspected or confirmed lack of capacity to consent to marriage under the Mental Capacity Act 2005. ↩

10. These cases often involve reluctant sponsors. ↩

11. To come back to the UK or to their country of ordinary residence. ↩

12. ‘Forced Marriage Protection Orders: How can they protect me?’ HM Courts & Tribunals Service leaflet. ↩