not for the last few centuries – until comparatively the the age of consent in Europe was equally low, it was only defined in England in 1275 (at age 12); arranged marriages of younger children being equally common as in the Eastern countries especially amongst richer families.
It was also only around the 20th century and the arrival of state funded healthcare and education in Europe that exact dates and times of births were not often accurately recorded.
Ages of consent that seem shocking today (and did often lead to unpleasant exploitation of younger people worldwide inside and outside of organised religions) were initially defined in times where comparatively few people made it to middle age (even if from well off families) due to disease and conflict.
Many European countries have actually raised their age of consent since the start of the 21st century in response to the impact of the Internet, the investigations into historic abuse cases within religious groups, “persons of trust” (teachers, youthworkers etc) and the entertainment industrues as well as concerns over grooming and underage sex workers….
