In Ethiopia вЂ“ once among the top five countries for child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa вЂ“ the prevalence has dropped by a third in the last 10 years. New data also point to the possibility of progress on the African continent. Of the most recently married child brides, close to 1 in 3 are now in sub-Saharan Africa, compared to 1 in 5 a decade ago. While South Asia has led the way on reducing child marriage over the last decade, the global burden of child marriage is shifting to sub-Saharan Africa, where rates of progress need to be scaled up dramatically to offset population growth.

Worldwide, an estimated 650 million women alive today were married as children. Without further acceleration, more than 150 million additional girls will marry before their 18th birthday by 2030. However, to end the practice by 2030 вЂ“ the target set out in the Sustainable Development Goals вЂ“ progress must be significantly accelerated. The new figures point to an accumulated global reduction of 25 million fewer marriages than would have been anticipated under global levels 10 years ago. вЂњGiven the life-altering impact child marriage has on a young girlвЂ™s life, any reduction is welcome news, but weвЂ™ve got a long way to go.вЂќДЄccording to new data from UNICEF, the total number of girls married in childhood is now estimated at 12 million a year. There are also huge societal consequences, and higher risk of intergenerational cycles of poverty,вЂќ said Anju Malhotra, UNICEFвЂ™s Principal Gender Advisor. Her odds of finishing school decrease while her odds of being abused by her husband and suffering complications during pregnancy increase. вЂњWhen a girl is forced to marry as a child, she faces immediate and lifelong consequences. Increasing rates of girlsвЂ™ education, proactive government investments in adolescent girls, and strong public messaging around the illegality of child marriage and the harm it causes are among the reasons for the shift.

South Asia has witnessed the largest decline in child marriage worldwide in the last 10 years, as a girlвЂ™s risk of marrying before her 18th birthday has dropped by more than a third, from nearly 50 per cent to 30 per cent, in large part due to progress in India. Overall, the proportion of women who were married as children decreased by 15 per cent in the last decade, from oneВ in fourВ to approximately oneВ in five. NEW YORK, 6 March 2018 вЂ“ The prevalence of child marriage is decreasing globally with several countries seeing significant reductions in recent years, UNICEF said today.

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