27th November, 2015
The number of child brides in Africa could more than double to 310 million over the next 35 years if current trends continue, according to a new report from UNICEF.
The report says that of the 700 million women and girls alive today who were married before their 18th birthday around the world, about 17 per cent or 125 million of them, live in Africa.
It shows the prevalence of child marriage in Africa has been slowly declining with the number of young women who were married as children dropping from 44 per cent in 1990 to 34 per cent today.
But the continent’s expected rapid population growth – the population of girls alone in Africa is expected to rise from 275 million today to 465 million by 2050 – and lagging social reforms will mean nearly half of the world’s child brides in 2050 are expected to be African if the rate of reduction in child marriage is not significantly increased.
In sub-Saharan Africa, for example, even a doubling of the rate at which child marriage is declining will not be enough to reduce the number of child brides there.
According to the report, African child brides are most likely found in poor rural areas with girls in rural areas twice as likely to become child brides as those living in urban areas and girls from the poorest households twice as likely to marry before the age of 18 than those from the richest.
The report shows that child marriage adversely impacts prospects for a successful, healthy life and can set off a cycle of intergenerational poverty. Child brides are less likely to finish school, more likely to be victims of violence and more likely to become infected with HIV while children of teenaged mothers run a higher risk of being born stillborn, dying soon after birth or having a low birth rate.
Anthony Lake, UNICEF executive director, said the data is clear that ending child marriage requires a much sharper focus on "reaching the poorest and most marginalised girls" with quality education and protective services. "Each child bride is an individual tragedy. An increase in their number is intolerable."
~ www.unicef.org/media/files/UNICEF-Child-Marriage-Brochure-low-Single(1).pdf
– DAVID ADAMS
