Child Marriage Facts!
CHILD MARRIAGE FACTS
- More than 30% of today’s women were married before their 18th birthday.
- If there is no reduction in child marriage, an additional 1.2 billion girls will be married by 2050.
- Some child brides are as young as eight or nine.
- Most adolescent pregnancies (90%) take place within marriage.
- Pregnancy and childbirth complications are among the leading causes of death in girls aged 15 to 19 in low- and middle-income countries.
COMPELLING REASONS TO ACT NOW
Globally, the rates of child marriage are slowly declining. However, there are urgent reasons to double our efforts.
IT VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS AND IS ILLEGAL
In many countries, child marriage is prohibited, but existing laws are often not enforced or provide exceptions for parental consent or traditional and customary laws. Child marriage reinforces gender inequality and violates human rights. Tolerating any injustice makes it easier for others to exist.
IT PERPETUATES POVERTY
Married girls often leave school and so can lack the skills to help lift their families out of poverty. The international community’s failure to end child marriage means it has fallen short in its commitment to reduce global poverty and achieve six of the eight Millennium Development Goals.
THE LONGER WE WAIT, THE BIGGER THE PROBLEM WILL BE
Millions of girls and women already suffer the consequences of child marriage. If we do nothing, population growth means that, by 2050, the total number of women married as children will grow to 1.2 billion, with devastating consequences for girls, their families and their countries. Boys are also affected – 33 million men today were married before the age of 15 and 156 million before the age of 18.
