What requirements apply to marriage and parental responsibility under family law in Burkina Faso?

Both partners generally must be 18 and give free consent; forced and child marriages are not permitted. Both parents generally hold parental responsibility, including duties of support, care, upbringing and safety.

What steps secure a child's birth registration and parentage in Burkina Faso?

The birth is registered with the responsible municipality, town hall or civil-registration office; the civil registry and, where necessary, a court formally establish parentage. For a person born abroad to a Burkinabè parent, the responsible TGI at the place of residence may issue a supplementary birth judgment.

Which bodies help with family violence, separation or children at risk in Burkina Faso?

Depending on the case, municipalities, social services, social workers, courts, foster families, mobile teams and UNICEF or non-governmental organisation partners may be involved. In a divorce, the TGI decides, while traditional dispute-resolution bodies may mediate but cannot replace a court divorce.

Family in Burkina Faso

Q: What household forms shape family life in Burkina Faso?

In 2019, 49.9% of households were complete nuclear families, 26.8% extended households, 8.1% single-parent households and 5.6% composite households. Household and family can therefore include different groups of people.

Family in Burkina Faso includes lasting relationships and care for children, relatives and dependent people. Household and family are not the same: in 2019, 49.9% of households were complete nuclear families, 26.8% extended households, 8.1% single-parent households and 5.6% composite households. Marriage, parentage, parental responsibility, separation, care, protection and inheritance connect state rules with customary, religious and informal practices.

Tip

First secure your family's civil-status records, because missing records can make access to school, health care, insurance and inheritance more difficult. Use the appropriate state procedure for marriage, separation and parentage, and do not automatically treat customary or religious solutions as equivalent substitutes. If protection, displacement or poverty is involved, the appropriate assistance depends on the location, security situation and programme.

byFatoumata&Oumar

Families in Burkina Faso take different forms. A household does not always include all related people, while a family may be connected across several households. In 2019, there were 3,488,258 households. A household had an average of 4.4 members in cities and 5.6 members in rural areas. One-person households accounted for 9.6%. In cities, nuclear families were less common and extended households more common than in rural areas. Family law governs key questions concerning marriage, parentage, parental responsibility, adoption, divorce, separation, protection and inheritance. Since 25 September 2025, Law No. 012-2025/ALT establishing the Code of Persons and Family (Loi n°012-2025/ALT portant Code des personnes et de la famille (CPF)) has applied; it replaces the 1989 version of the family code. Marriage generally requires both partners to be 18 and to give free consent. A judicial exemption may be possible. Forced and child marriages are not permitted. A civil marriage can be monogamous or contracted with an option for polygamy; polyandry is not permitted. A customary or religious marriage requires formal registration (Transcription) in the civil registry (état civil) to have the effect of the CPF. Parental responsibility generally lies with both parents. It includes support, care, upbringing, safety and safeguarding the child's moral development. Civil majority begins at 18. Parentage is mainly formally established through the civil registry or a court. Full adoption (adoption plénière) may also be possible when legal parentage has so far been established for only one parent. Simple adoption (adoption simple) may be considered, among other cases, after the death or incapacity of a parent and for adults. Birth and death records secure legal identity and facilitate access to school, health care, insurance and inheritance proceedings. Depending on the procedure, the responsible bodies are the municipality (commune) or town hall (mairie), local civil-registration offices and the national civil-registration authority (DGMEC). Digital registers and a state identification number are intended to strengthen documentation. A court of first instance (Tribunal de grande instance (TGI)) at the place of residence may issue a supplementary birth judgment for a person born abroad to a Burkinabè parent. An older UNICEF profile gives a 60-day deadline for births and deaths; fees for registration and copies, as well as costs for late registration, must be checked locally under the current procedure. In that profile, registering a death was free of charge. In a divorce by mutual consent or at the request of one spouse, the TGI decides. An agreement must address the children, care, support and property. Legal separation (séparation de corps) is a separate legal route and is not a court divorce. Village or neighbourhood bodies applying local customs may mediate conflicts, but they do not replace a court divorce. After a death, rules apply to inheritance (succession), wills (testament) and gifts (donation). If a person is absent or missing, a judicial declaration procedure may be required. Care and support are provided mainly by family, relatives and the community. No uniform state care allowance for relatives has been documented. Assistance for children and particularly vulnerable people is distributed among social services, social workers, foster families, courts, mobile teams and joint service points. Health posts (CSPS), municipal health workers (ASBC) and GASPA support structures (GASPA) particularly support the care of infants and young children aged 6 to 23 months, although access depends on the region and security situation. In cases of violence, exploitation, child marriage, female genital mutilation, family separation or psychosocial distress, state family and social services work with the justice system, municipalities, UNICEF and non-governmental organisations. In 2025, 1,862 unaccompanied or family-separated children were recorded. A total of 249,591 people received psychosocial support, including 195,314 children and 54,277 caregivers. The children's hotline 116 is documented, but its current availability should be checked before use. Social support is not automatically available. The Unified Social Register (Registre social unique (RSU)) serves as an access and selection basis, but does not guarantee a benefit. Eligibility and scope depend on poverty, vulnerability, shocks, displacement or return, and the relevant programme. The PAMPV programme (PAMPV), established in 2024, had not yet been operationalised according to the status in July 2026. A resilience project planned for 2026 to 2031 is intended to reach about 120,000 households with approximately 720,000 members and to add around 500,000 new households to the RSU. Payments, amounts and duration are not generally fixed.