UNICEF – Is an end to child marriage within reach? Latest trends and future prospects

The reports shows that the practice of child marriage has continued to decline globally, even if an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood. Today, one in five young women aged 20 to 24 years were married as children versus nearly one in four 10 years ago. Data mentioned in the report indicate that child marriage has declined steadily in South Asia. Even if child marriages have declined in India, the country is still home to the largest number of child brides worldwide: “India alone accounts for one third of the world’s child brides”. West and Central Africa, the region with the highest prevalence of child marriage, has made little progress over the last 25 years. Progress is also too slow in Latin America and the Caribbean. This data shows that “progress has been uneven around the world and that reductions are not fast enough to meet the target of eliminating the practice by 2030”. More generally, the report notes that girls living in poverty, in areas afflicted by conflicts, as well as in countries afflicted by climate change, face an elevated risk of child marriage.

According to UNICEF, ending child marriage is an ambitious global target, which is not within easy reach by 2030. CHIP shares UNICEF’s concerns that efforts to accelerate progress must be redoubled, in order to spare girls form this violation of their rights, including their right to identity. Their family relations including their identity should not be changed under such circumstances.

Source : https://data.unicef.org/resources/is-an-end-to-child-marriage-within-reach/