Intersecting Vulnerabilities
Data brief on child marriage and disability in Southeast Asia and the Pacific
About
Child marriage continues to affect girls across East Asia and the Pacific, yet girls with disabilities have remained largely absent from regional evidence and policy dialogue. This data brief examines the intersection between disability and child marriage using disability-disaggregated survey data. Drawing on recent Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS), the analysis covers ten countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific: Cambodia, Fiji, Kiribati, Mongolia, Nauru, Samoa, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.
The findings show that girls with disabilities are never less affected by child marriage than girls without disabilities, and in some contexts face higher exposure to early marriage. Exclusion from education, poverty and geographic disadvantage are the strongest predictors of child marriage risk. Girls with disabilities are more likely to experience such exclusion due to discrimination, stigma and structural barriers, increasing their vulnerability.
These findings underline the need to ensure that efforts to end child marriage fully include girls with disabilities in policies, programmes and data systems.
