Where Child Marriage Is Still Common

In Sub-Saharan Africa, one in three girls gets married or enters a cohabiting relationship before the age of 18. 11 percent of Sub-Saharan women who are now 20 to 24 years old even entered such a union before the age of 15, according to a UNICEF study. In South Asia, this number was one in four young women, while it was one in five in Latin America and the Caribbean.

According to the agency, the term "child marriage" is used to refer to both formal marriages and informal unions in which a person lives with a partner for some time before 18 years old. Child marriage often takes place through an informal union, in which girls live with a partner rather than marry, oftentimes because laws prohibit an official union. Child marriage is tied to poverty, school dropouts, teenage pregnancy and violence. According to the report, girls who marry early are more likely to live in rural areas, in poor households and with less access to education.