Fiji citizens can no longer marry at the age of 16 after the cabinet this week approved amendments to the Marriage Act through promulgation with the absence of a legal government.

The amendments will make 18 years as the minimum age at which marriage can be contracted for both males and females.

This will rid, to some extent, the common problem in the Pacific island nation where children are sold off for marriage as some families are forced into poverty.

Therefore, any person below the age of 18 years, male or female, will be prohibited from contracting a valid marriage.

The Fiji cabinet based its decision on a submission by the interim Attorney General Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum.

Khaiyum said that amendments will reform the age at which marriage can be validly contracted.

"The requirement of parental consent where a party to an intended marriage, although of marriageable age, is under the age of 21 years will also be removed," he said on Thursday.

Currently, the marriageable age in Fiji is 16 years for females, and 18 years for males.

Khaiyum said that increasing the marriage age from 16 years to 18 years will prohibit involuntary marriages.

He said that it will also stop the practice of female children in some instances being regarded as commodities and being sold for financial gain.