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Accelerating Efforts to End Child Marriage Rachel Vogelstein and Jennifer Klein  Columbia SIPA Institute of Global Politics Women's Initiative March 2026 Click here for the report  Summary: A new report from Columbia University's SIPA Institute of Global Politics finds that 640 million women alive today were married as children, with approximately 12 million girls still married before age 18 each year.  South Asia holds the largest share of child brides — nearly 300 million — with India alone accounting for one-third of the global total. Sub-Saharan Africa's share has grown from 15 to 35 percent over 25 years, driven by population growth outpacing progress.  The report includes analysis by the Center for Global Development estimating that inaction on child marriage will cost up to $175 billion per year in lost productivity and increased health risks — nearly $2.5 trillion by 2040.  The authors recommend three priority interventions: investing in girls' educatio...

    Article shared by Viviane Sakkal "...child marriage, which activists describe as one or both parties entering a union while under age 18, remains legal in 37 US states. There are no federal laws against it, meaning minors can marry, with parental consent, before they can vote, drink, or buy lottery tickets in the majority of the country. Some states have a minimum marriage age on the books, which ranges from 15 to 18. Four states – California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Mississippi – do not specify any minimum age at all." Click here for the article Excerpts "Close to 300,000 minors were married between 2000 and 2018 in the US, according to a study conducted by Unchained at Last; a small number of them were as young as 10. Because 78% of minors who wed in that timespan were girls with adult husbands, advocates frame their cause around saving underage girls from older men." So far this year, survivors have successfully campaigned to get child marriage taken o...

Article shared by Tom McDermott

UNICEF's recent report Is an End to Child Marriage in Reach? indicates that one in five young women aged 20 to 24 years were married as children, versus nearly one in four 10 years ago. Progress has been slow and uneven around the world. Nearly half of child brides live in South Asia (45 per cent) with the next largest share in sub-Saharan Africa (20 per cent) Reductions are not fast enough to meet the SDG target of eliminating the practice by 2030. In fact, at the current rate, it will take another 300 years until child marriage is eliminated. Download the report Nearly half of child brides live in South Asia (45 per cent) with the next largest share in sub-Saharan Africa (20 per cent), followed by East Asia and the Pacific (15 per cent) and Latin America and the Caribbean (9 per cent). Interrupted lives - from the Statesman Overall, Unicef estimates that 640 million girls and women living today were married off before they turned 18. Post the Covid-19 pandemic, when poor famil...

NEW YORK, 3 May 2023 – Despite a steady decline in child marriage in the last decade, multiple crises including conflict, climate shocks, and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19 are threatening to reverse hard-earned gains, according to a new analysis issued by UNICEF today. “The world is engulfed by crises on top of crises that are crushing the hopes and dreams of vulnerable children, especially girls who should be students, not brides,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Health and economic crises, escalating armed conflicts, and the ravaging effects of climate change are forcing families to seek a false sense of refuge in child marriage. We need to do everything in our power to ensure that their rights to an education and empowered lives are secured.” Worldwide, an estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood, or 12 million girls per year, according to the latest global estimate included in the analysis. The share of young women who marri...

UNICEF has released new estimates revealing that South Asia has the highest number of child brides in the world, with 290 million child brides accounting for 45% of the global total. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a significant factor, as families facing increased financial pressures and school closures have been forced to marry off their young daughters. To combat the practice of child marriage, UNICEF, UNFPA, the South Asia Initiative to End Violence Against Children (SAIEVAC), Plan International, and World Vision called for renewed efforts at a regional forum attended by more than 100 government and civil society representatives from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. The participants at the forum highlighted promising solutions in reducing the practice, such as working with religious leaders to positively change how girls are valued by families and communities, and using cash transfers to counter poverty and build resilience to shocks...

José Antonio Ruiz, oficial nacional de protección UNICEF, dijo que se debe trabajar en el entorno familiar y comunitario para evitar más casos de matrimonio infantil. José Antonio Ruiz, Child Protection Officer, UNICEF, says that work is needed in the family and community to prevent more cases of child marriage.