Child Marriages around the World

What is forced marriages?
Forced marriages is where a man or woman is forced/tricked into marrying someone else without his/her consent. If they refuse they will be subjected to physical punishment or even death. (S#1)

Difference between forced marriages and arranged marriages.
Arranged marriages usually happen when the parents arrange for their son/daughter to get married to the other son/daughter. But ultimately the choose relies on the the couple whether to get married or not. With forced marriages the boy/girl don't have a choice, it's either get married or suffer from honor violence. Honor violence is where the parents are forced to kill their daughter/son so the family won't be brought to shame. (S#1)

Statistics from around the world.

Countries with the highest rate of child marriages.
Niger: 75%
Chad and Central African Republic: 68%
Bangladesh: 66%
Guinea: 63%
Mozambique: 56%
Mali: 55%
Burkina Faso and South Sudan: 52%
Malawi: 50%

(S#5)
Are men affected also?
Men are affected by forced marriages but the women are more affected due to the men being able to divorce their wives once old enough, and it is against the law in most countries for women to file for a divorce.  (S#2)

Age statistics of forced marriages (for women).
In 2012, 70 million women around the world were married before they turned 18. 1 out of 3 girls in the developing world are married before the age of 18 and 1 out of 9 girls are married before the age of 15. (S#3) "140 million girls who will marry before the age of 18, 50 million will be under the age of 15." (S#5)

Education and Child Marriages.
Studies show that the more educated the girl is the less likely she is forced to be married at a young age. "In Mozambique, some 60% of girls with no education are married by 18, compared to 10% of girls with secondary schooling and less than 1% of girls with higher education." (S#3) Girls with no education are 3 times more likely to be married before 18 then girls with a secondary or higher education. "With secondary schooling a child is 6 times less likely to be married as a child rather children who aren't educated at all." (S#4)

Health and Child Marriages.
When a girl is married young (15-19 years old) they will usually get pregnant which leads to their death when child birth occurs. "Child brides often face a higher risk of contracting HIV because they often marry an older man with more sexual experience. Girls ages 15-19 are 2 to 6 times more likely to contract HIV than boys of the same age in sub-Saharan Africa." (S#3)



Sources:
S#1
S#2
S#3
S#4
S#5
S#6
S#7

until next time!!

xoxo
ellie