The global scandal of 400 million child brides

Globally, 400 million child marriages cut across countries, cultures, religions and ethnicities, with India by far having the greatest number of child marriages.

Although recent media has focused on consideration of lowering the marriage age by countries such as Iran and Iraq, in fact, 20 other developing nations have the worst record for child marriages.

Data from UNICEFs Demographic and Health Surveys in 2013 reveals that:

• almost 400 million women aged 20-49 were married before 18;

• one-in-three girls in the developing world are married before 18;

• by the end of the decade another 142 million girls will be married as children, unless the practice of child brides is stopped.

The top 20 countries for child brides, according to figures compiled by UNICEF, are:

1. Niger, 75 per cent.

2. Central African Republic, 68 per cent.

3. Chad, 68 per cent.

4. Bangladesh, 65 per cent.

5. Guinea, 63 per cent.

6. Mali, 55 per cent.

7. South Sudan, 52 per cent.

8. Burkina Faso, 52 per cent.

9. Malawi, 50 per cent.

10. Madagascar, 48 per cent.

11.Mozambique, 48 per cent.

12. India, 47 per cent.

13. Eritrea, 47 per cent.

14. Somalia, 45 per cent.

15. Sierra Leone, 44 per cent.

16. Zambia, 42 per cent.

17. Nicaragua, 41 per cent.

18. Nepal, 41 per cent.

19. Dominican Republic, 41 per cent.

20. Ethiopia, 41 per cent.

The Pew Religious Futures program, which measures religious belief across countries, reveals that of the UNICEF top 20 countries for child marriage 10 are countries with a majority Christian population, eight are majority Muslim, and two are predominantly Hindu. (see table below).

Girls Not Brides: Child marriage prevalence is the percentage of women 20-24 years, who were married or in union before they were 18 (UNICEF State of the World's Children, 2013). It's based on Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), Demo-graphic and Health Surveys (DHS) and other national surveys, and refers to most recent year available in the period 2002-11.

UNICEF rates countries according to the percentage of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before they were 18 years old.

For example, Niger is rated as the number one nation for child brides, with 75 per cent of women aged 20-24 married before the age of 18.

Because of the sheer size of India (2.1 billion people) and its high rate of child brides, India has the highest number of child brides.

The numbers are staggering. In 2013, 47 percent of India's women 20-24 years were child brides. Conservatively that means that, given at least half the women 15 and over were child brides, more than 210 million Indian women over the age of 15 were child brides.

This is despite the legal age of marriage being 18 years.

In recent times, fewer Indian girls are marrying before the age of 15, falling from 23.5 percent to 18.2 percent. However at the same time, rates of marriage have increased for girls in the 15-18 age group, increasing from 26.7 per cent to 29.2 per cent between the late 1990s and 2006.

Many factors perpetuate child marriage.

Particularly in developing countries, child marriage is often a traditional practice going back centuries.

In many communities where child marriage is practised, girls are not valued as much as boys - they are seen as a social or economic burden.

Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, clothe and educate. In communities where a dowry or "bride price" is paid, it is often welcome income for poor families.

Often, many parents marry off their daughters out of concern for their safety in areas where girls are at high risk of physical or sexual assault.

As well as the sheer numbers of them there is another deeply troubling aspect of child marriages that needs to be exposed. The London-based Anti-Slavery International says that, in the child-marriage debate, the links to slavery have been largely absent.

It says that "many married children can experience levels of suffering, coercion and control that meet international legal definitions of slavery and slavery-like practices, including servile marriage, child servitude, child trafficking and forced labour".

It continues: "A potentially high proportion of child marriage cases appear to constitute worst forms of child labour."

In Australia, more than 3,000 under-aged teens are married or in de facto marriages across the nation, according to the 2011 census. According to The Australian, "The majority of 15-to-17 year-olds married or in a de facto marriage were born in Australia.

"Of those who identified as married, 57% identified as Christian and 6% were Muslim. About 30% did not state their religion or identified as no religion."7

The census revealed under-age marriage was prevalent in several indigenous communities.

The Australiansaid that eight of the top 10 locations for under-age marriage had major indigenous communities - the Northern Territory's West Arnhem, Barkly, MacDonnell, Roper Gulf, East Arnhem, Central Desert and Victoria Daly Shires, and South Australia's Anangu Pitjantjatjara local government area.

The top location was Brisbane, and eighth on the list was Sydney's Blacktown.

When de facto marriages were also included, the top three locations for under-age marriages were all found to be in Queensland - Moreton Bay, Brisbane and Logan.

According to the Girls Not Brides – an international organisation dedicated to empowering girls through education to avoid child marriage – solutions to the under-age marriage problem vary according to the circumstances in each community.

Solutions can include bringing traditional leaders onside, enforcing laws that set a legal age for marriage, and mobilising and educating communities.

According to Girls Not Brides, "Improving girls' access to quality schooling will increase girls' chances of gaining a secondary education and helps to delay marriage. When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries on average four years later.

"Empowering girls, by offering them opportunities to gain skills and education, providing support networks and creating 'safe spaces' where girls can gather and meet outside the home, can help girls to assert their right to choose when they marry."