The practice of marrying girls at a young age is most common in Sub-Saharan
Africa and South Asia. However, in the
Middle East, North Africa and other parts of Asia, marriage at or shortly after puberty is common among those living traditional lifestyles. There are also specific parts of West and East Africa and of South
Asia where marriages much earlier than puberty are not unusual, while marriages of girls between the ages of 16 and 18 are common in parts of Latin America and in pockets of Eastern Europe.
One problem in assessing the prevalence of early marriages is that so many are unregistered and unofficial and are not therefore counted as part of any standard data collection system. Very little country data exist about marriages under the age of 14, even less about those below age 10.
An exception is Bangladesh, where the
Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of 1996-97 reported that 5 per cent of 10-
14 year-olds were married.
18
Small-scale studies and anecdotal information fill in the picture. They imply that marriage at a very young age is more widespread than country data suggest. National statistics often disguise significant rates of very early marriage in some regions and among some sub-populations. In the
Indian state of Rajasthan, for example, a
1993 survey of 5,000 women revealed that
56 per cent had married before age 15, and of these, 17 per cent were married before they were 10.
19
A 1998 survey in Madhya
Pradesh found that nearly 14 per cent of girls were married between the ages of 10 and14. 20
In Ethiopia and in parts of West
Africa, marriage at seven or eight is not uncommon. In Kebbi State, Northern
Nigeria, the average age of marriage for girls is just over 11 years, against a national average of 17.
21
Plenty of marriage data exist for those aged 15-19, mostly in relation to reproduction or