Child marriage comes with a heavy cost for young girls in Africa – but there's one clear way out

Early marriage has a number of negative effects on the lives of girls and their own children. Riccardo Mayer/Shutterstock

650 million women and girls alive today were married before their 18th birthday. That’s one of the startling figures contained in a 2021 UNICEF report about child marriage. Africa’s sub-Saharan region is home to nine of the ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage in the world.

Ingrained traditions and cultural practices typically entrench such early marriages. State or customary laws in 146 countries allow girls younger than 18 to marry with the consent of their parents or other authorities. In 52 nations, girls under 15 can marry with parental consent.