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Child marriage

Child marriage threatens the lives, well-being and futures of girls around the world.

Barira Mamoudou, an 18 years old girl, with her daughter Jamilla, in Diffa, Niger.
UNICEF/UN0535811/Dejongh
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Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child.

Despite a steady decline in this harmful practice over the past decade, child marriage remains widespread, with approximately one in five girls married in childhood across the globe. Today, multiple crises – including conflict, climate shocks and the ongoing fallout from COVID-19 – are threatening to reverse progress towards eliminating this human rights violation. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals call for global action to end child marriage by 2030.

Maria Fernanda Chen, 14, at a health center in Guatemala.
UNICEF/UN0615530/Mussapp
“One of the main problems that I have seen in my community is early pregnancy, the language barrier [for indigenous populations] and child marriage. Women are not allowed to study either because they have the idea that they must stay at home. But that idea must change because women and men have the same rights.” Maria Fernanda Chen, 14, in Guatemala.

Child marriage is often the result of entrenched gender inequality, making girls disproportionately affected by the practice. Globally, the prevalence of child marriage among boys is just one sixth that among girls.

Child marriage robs girls of their childhood and threatens their well-being. Girls who marry before 18 are more likely to experience domestic violence and less likely to remain in school. They have worse economic and health outcomes than their unmarried peers, which are eventually passed down to their own children, straining a country’s capacity to provide quality health and education services.

Child brides often become pregnant during adolescence, when the risk of complications during pregnancy and childbirth increases. The practice can also isolate girls from family and friends, taking a heavy toll on their mental health.

UNICEF's response

Addressing child marriage requires recognition of the factors that enable it. While the roots of the practice vary across countries and cultures, poverty, lack of educational opportunities and limited access to health care perpetuate it. Some families marry off their daughters to reduce their economic burden or earn income. Others may do so because they believe it will secure their daughters’ futures or protect them.

Norms and stereotypes around gender roles, as well as the socio-economic risk of pregnancy outside of marriage, also uphold the practice.

Ahed, 18, in Za'atari refugee camp in Jordan.
UNICEF/UNI394982/El-Noaimi
Ahed, 18, lives in Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. “I want to tell the world that we girls are capable of doing many things that you thought we couldn’t. I’ve heard boys say that we are useless, and we’re only created to work in the home. But I know that girls have the same rights in society. We have the right to work and to education, the right to be protected from violence, the right to vote, and the right to be protected from early marriage and the right of choice when it comes to choosing the right partner.”

Because UNICEF works with a range of stakeholders – from grassroots organizations to high-level decision makers – across a scope of rights issues, we are uniquely positioned to identify and address the systemic barriers to reproductive health and gender equality.

In 2016, UNICEF, together with UNFPA, launched the Global Programme to End Child Marriage. Empowering young girls at risk of marriage or already in union, the programme have reached more than 21 million adolescent girls with life-skills training, comprehensive sexuality education and school attendance support since 2016. Over 353 million people, including key community influencers as well as men and boys specifically, have also engaged in dialogue and communication campaigns to support adolescent girls, or other efforts to end child marriage.

Last updated July 2023

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