CHILD MARRIAGE

                                       CHILD MARRIAGE

An estimated 140 million girls will become child brides between 2011 and 2020 . Girls who marry before age 18 are typically denied an education, at risk of complications related to premature childbearing, and more vulnerable to intimate partner violence.

Child marriage is a formal marriage or informal union entered

into by an individual before reaching a certain age, specified

by several global organizations such as UNICEF as minors

under the age of 18.

Overall, the proportion of women who were married as

children decreased by 15 per cent in the last decade, from 1

in 4 to approximately 1 in 5. While this is a great

improvement, to end the practice by 2030 – the target set out

in the Sustainable Development Goals – progress must be

significantly accelerated. At current rates, more than 150

 

million additional girls will marry before their 18th birthday by

2030. Without far more intensive and sustained action now

from all parts of society, hundreds of millions more girls will

suffer profound, permanent, and utterly unnecessary harm.

Worldwide, more than 650 million women alive today were married as children. An estimated 12 million girls under 18 are married each year. Girls who marry before they turn 18 are less likely to remain in school and more likely to experience domestic violence. Young teenage girls are more likely to die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s; their infants are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life.