15th September, 2015
About 90,000 children between 10 and 14-years-of-age were married in Brazil in 2010, while another half a million got married between the ages of 15 and 17, according to a new study.
Carried out by the Institute Promundo, Brazilian NGO, along with the United Nations Fund for Children and the US nonprofit Foundation Ford, the study drew on the national census of 2010 and independent research centred in particular in the States of Par√°, in the north, and Maranhao, northeast.
These two regions of Brazil, which are among the poorest in the country, are the ones where there is the highest incidence of child marriage and among adolescents, which in many cases are due to economic and cultural problems.
According to the Brazilian legislature, 18 is the legal age to get married in the country. However, the law provides some exceptions, such as the consent of the parents of the couple in the age group between 16 and 18 or a judicial and family authorisation if you are pregnant.
