The number of child marriages is declining worldwide, but at too slow a pace for any hope of eliminating the practice this century, Unicef, the UN children’s agency, has said.
In a new report, Unicef tentatively welcomed the reduction but warned that it was nowhere close to meeting its sustainable development goal of ridding the world of the practice by 2030.
“The good news is that child marriage has been declining all over the world,” said Claudia Cappa, the lead author of the report. “In the last 10 years, the percentage of child marriages has dropped from 23% to 19% [of all marriages]. However, this isn’t fast enough to achieve the goal of eliminating child marriage by 2030, with more than 12 million girls under 18 still getting married every year. So, if things don’t change, we’ll need around 300 more years to eliminate child marriage completely.”
The UN estimates that 640 million girls and women who are alive today married before they were 18, and that 12 million girls become new child brides each year.
“Child marriage has different causes in different places, but there are often commonalities linked to poverty and limited opportunities for girls,” said Cappa. “Gender inequality, stereotypes, weak laws and the fear of pregnancy outside of marriage also contribute.”
The report warned that the climate crisis could leave families with few options but to marry off their children. “Health crises, conflict and natural disasters increase the risk to girls as they interrupt their education and add financial stress to households,” said Cappa. “Some families in these difficult situations falsely view [marriage] as a way to protect their girls financially, socially and physically. While we can’t always predict these crises, we can look back to understand how they might affect girls.
Declining rates of child marriage in south Asia, home to 45% of the world’s underage brides, underpinned the overall trend. India in particular is making progress in reducing child marriage. But in sub-Saharan Africa, one in three girls are marrying before the age of 18. Child marriage rates are highest in west and central Africa, home to seven out of the 10 countries with the highest prevalence globally.
“Despite some progress over 25 years, it only benefited the wealthiest, as child marriage increased among the poorest,” said Cappa. “[Sub-Saharan Africa] also faces a particular challenge: in addition to conflict, climate shocks and Covid, it’s seeing its population grow faster than anywhere else in the world, outpacing its progress to end child marriage.”
Child marriage and having sex too young causes myriad health problems and carries increased risks of death during childbirth and serious complications in pregnancy.
“But we know progress is possible in Africa, and the report lists Rwanda and Ethiopia as examples. Ending child marriage is possible with income and economic interventions,” said Cappa.