The Child Marriage Factsheet

Highlights

This factsheet gives an overview of the child marriage situation in Malawi. An important aim of UNICEF’s Child Protection Programme is increased knowledge and understanding among communities of harm associated with child marriage. UNICEF works to abolish practices and behaviours harmful to children, while ensuring they have access to child protection services. About 46 per cent of girls are married before the age of 18, and 9 per cent before the age of 15.
The main drivers of child marriage are poverty, cultural and religious traditions, and peer pressure. Child marriage is often associated with limited education and employment opportunities, and is seen as a way of protecting girls from out of wedlock pregnancy.