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Child Marriage

Child Marriage. Key Findings and Implications for Policy Edilberto Loaiza UNFPA, New York loaiza@unfpa.org Vienna, November 25, 2013. Background. This study was completed and presented in October 2012 as part of the activities scheduled for the first international day of the girls child

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Child Marriage

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  1. Child Marriage Key Findings and Implications for Policy EdilbertoLoaiza UNFPA, New York loaiza@unfpa.org Vienna, November 25, 2013

  2. Background • This study was completed and presented in October 2012 as part of the activities scheduled for the first international day of the girls child • UNFPA proposed this day to be devoted to the issue of child marriage • The study was completed by EdilbertoLoaiza and Sylvia Wong using data from Household Surveys • Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) • Multiple Indicators Cluster Survets • And using population projection from the UN Population Division for the estimates to 2030

  3. Key Findings • During the period 2000-2011, over one third (34%) of the women 20-24 in developing countries were married or in union before their eighteenth birthday • In 2010 this percentage was equivalent to over 67 million women • About 12% of them were married before age 15 • There are substantial variation around this average, ranging from 2% in Algeria to 75% in Niger • In 41 countries,30% or more of the women 20-24 were married or in union when they were still children

  4. Despite gains in selected countries, little progress has been made in preventing child marriage

  5. Changes in Bolivia

  6. Globally child marriage levels have not changed • The practice of child marriage is still at high and unacceptable levels in many developing countries (61 countries have a child marriage prevalence of 20 per cent or higher) • Child marriage at the global level has remained relatively constant over the last 10 to 15 years (at around 50 per cent in rural areas and 23 per cent in urban areas) • Many developing countries lack evidence to document prevalence and trends in child marriage and are therefore unable to develop appropriate policies and programmes to address it

  7. Wide disparities both within and among regions and countries

  8. Wide disparities both within and among regions and countries

  9. Wide disparities in the prevalence of child marriage are also found within countries

  10. About half of the child brides in the developing world live in Asia (excluding China)

  11. Girls who are poor, have little or no education and live in rural areas are most likely to marry or enter into union before age 18

  12. The lowest rates of contraceptive use among married adolescents are found in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

  13. By 2030, the number of child brides marrying each year will have grown from 13.5 in 2010 to 15.4 million, that is over 14 per cent if current trends continue

  14. Implications for Policy and Programs to: • Accelerate the prevention of child marriage, • Accelerate the provision of adequate support to the girls who are already married • Conditions in which child marriage practice continues: • Gender inequality • Lack of protection of girl’s human rights • Persistent traditions in favor of early marriage • Poverty • Humanitarian crisis/settings • Tough economic realities

  15. Implications for Policy and Programs to: • Each country to collect and analyze its own data to identify targets, • Use the evidence to put programs in place supported by adequate allocation of resources, to prevent and end child marriage and to manage its consequences • Interventions to support both unmarried and married adolescents: • Having access to sexual and reproductive health information (family planning, maternal health information and HIV prevention and treatment) • Married ones to avoid early and frequent pregnancies • Countries to consider a multi-pronged approach including enforcement of laws against child marriage, expand girls’ opportunity for post-primary education, offer to girls the opportunity to develop new skills and to show to families positive alternatives to child marriage • Investing in girls as multiplier effect on many outcomes

  16. Five core approaches • Empower girls by building/developing their skills and enhancing their social skills • Improve girls’ access to quality formal education • Mobilize communities to transform detrimental social norms • Enhance the economic situation of girls and their families • Generate an enabling legal and policy environment

  17. MARRYING TOO YOUNG: End Child Marriage

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