Child marriage

Child marriage is a marriage or domestic partnership, formal or informal, usually between a child and an adult, but can also be between a child and another child.^[1]

Although the age of majority (legal adulthood) and marriage age are typically 18 years old, these thresholds can differ in different jurisdictions.^[2] In some regions, the legal age for marriage can be as young as 14, with cultural traditions sometimes superseding legal stipulations. Additionally, jurisdictions may allow marriages younger than the stipulated age where specific exceptions, such as parental or guardian consent, or anomalous events, such as teenage pregnancy,^[3] exist.

Research has found that child marriages have many long-term negative consequences for child brides and grooms.^[4][2] Girls who marry as children often lack access to education and future career opportunities.^[4] It is also common for them to have adverse health effects resulting from early pregnancy and childbirth. Effects on child grooms may include the economic pressure of providing for a household and various constraints in educational and career opportunities.^[2]

Child marriage is part of the practice of child betrothal, often including civil cohabitation and a court approval of the engagement.^[5][6] Some factors that encourage child marriages include poverty, bride price, dowries, cultural traditions, religious and social pressure, regional customs, fear of the child remaining unmarried into adulthood, illiteracy, and the perceived inability of women to work.^[7][8][9]

Research indicates that comprehensive sex education can prevent child marriages.^[10] The rate of child marriages can also be reduced by strengthening rural communities' education systems. Rural development programs that provide basic infrastructure, including healthcare, clean water, and sanitation, may aid families financially.^[11]

Child marriages have historically been common and continue to be widespread, particularly in developing nations in Africa,^[12][13] South Asia,^[14] Southeast Asia,^[15][16] West Asia,^[17][18] Latin America,^[17] and Oceania.^[19] However, developed nations also face this issue. In the United States, child marriage is legal in 38 states.^[20][21][22]

Child marriage has been decreasing in prevalence in most parts of the world. UNICEF data from 2018 showed that about 21% of young women worldwide (aged 20 to 24) were married as children. This shows a 25% decrease from 10 years prior.^[23] The countries with the highest known rates of child marriages were Niger, Chad, Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea, the Central African Republic, Mozambique and Nepal, all of which had rates above 50% between 1998 and 2007.^[24] According to studies conducted between 2003 and 2009, the marriage rate of girls under 15 years old was greater than 20% in Niger, Chad, Bangladesh, Mali, and Ethiopia.^[25][26] Each year, an estimated 12 million girls globally are married under the age of 18.^[27]

In 2021, 13.3 million babies, or about 10% of all global births, were born to mothers aged under 20 years old.^[28]