Child marriage is a global issue affecting millions, particularly young girls, with severe consequences for both individuals and societies. Over 650 million women and girls today were married as children, with 12 million more being married every year.
Child marriage is not only a human rights violation, but also a major barrier to gender equality and economic development. Ending it would significantly promote women’s empowerment, and by extension, reduce poverty across societies.
A 2017 landmark research study by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank reveals that had child marriage ended in 2014, it could have saved over $4 trillion globally by 2030, with immediate benefits estimated at $22 billion in the first year alone. This staggering amount of money could be used by countries to address the root causes driving child marriage in the first place, such as lack of access to education and poverty.
The world can’t afford to let this harmful practice continue. Let’s explore exactly why.
What Exactly is Child Marriage — and Where Does it Happen?
Child marriage occurs when one or both partners are married before the age of 18. This practice is widely condemned because it denies children, disproportionately young girls, fundamental rights to health, education, and freedom from violence.
One in five girls is married worldwide before the age of 18, with 4 million married every year who are under the age of 15. The practice persists in large part because impoverished families see it as a way to provide and guarantee future financial security for their daughters. It mostly takes place in low-income countries, occurring in fragile states at twice the global average.
But the rate can be much higher in certain parts of the world. For example, 76% of girls in Niger, home to the world’s highest rate of child marriage, are married. However, it would be a mistake to assume that child marriage doesn’t take place everywhere. The advocacy organization Unchained at Last found that an estimated 300,000 children were married in the United States between just 2000 and 2018, some as young as 10 years old. Today, there is still no federal measure outlawing child marriage, and only 13 states explicitly ban the practice.
Population and Fertility Rates
One of the biggest economic impacts of child marriage is through increased fertility rates and family sizes. Girls who marry young typically have more children; across 15 different countries, women who married at 13 were likely to give birth 26% more times than if they had married at or after 18.
Higher fertility and birth rates drive population growth and delays a country’s so-called "demographic dividend" — the economic boost that comes with lower birth rates. Larger families can mean higher expenses and reduced standards of living, with less money to pay for essentials like food, education, and healthcare.
More people means greater demand for public resources, requiring increased government spending on social safety nets. Banning child marriage could therefore yield substantial savings. For instance, it’s estimated that ending child marriage in 2015 could have saved Niger $1.7 billion, Bangladesh $4.8 billion, and Nigeria $7.6 billion by 2030.
Health and Nutrition
Child marriage also leads to significant healthcare costs, especially when it leads to early pregnancies. 95% of adolescent births occur in low- and middle-income countries, and 90% of young mothers in these states are girls who were already married. Unfortunately, young mothers are more likely to experience life-threatening complications, and their children often have lower birth weights, poorer nutrition, and severe health conditions.
Reducing malnutrition and child mortality could provide global benefits of over $90 billion annually by 2030. What’s more, it’s estimated that eliminating child marriage could have saved 2.1 million children from dying before age five and prevent 3.6 million cases of stunting by 2030 if it had stopped in 2015.
Additionally, girls married under the age of 15 are almost 50% more likely to suffer instances of partner violence, compounding economic and social costs. Gender-based violence is associated with numerous health consequences, including increased risks of HIV infection, unplanned pregnancies, unsafe abortions, and femicide.
Education and Earnings
When a young girl is coerced into child marriage or becomes a young mother, she often has to drop out of school. This causes her to not only miss out not on educational opportunities, but also prompts cascading economic implications that build throughout her life. Researchers have well established a clear link between education and poverty — when removed from school, children lose out on social development, academic gains, and valuable skills to help find employment.
Child marriage means missing out on potential higher earnings, leading to less income for their household that perpetuates the cycle of poverty with the next generation.
Child marriage can be both the cause and result of halting an education. Every year a girl is married before reaching the age of 18 further reduces her chances of completing secondary education. This in turn raises the likelihood of forcing women into lower-paying or unstable jobs due to childcare responsibilities.
The impact of this compound for years, hampering entire economies as a result. If child marriage had ended in 2015, the World Bank/ICRW estimates that the cumulative gains in individual lifetime earnings would have been worth roughly $26 billion across 15 countries in just 15 years. This household instability leads to a vicious cycle in which the children of child brides are often born into similar circumstances that led to their mothers marrying young in the first place, perpetuating the cycle.
A Path to Economic Empowerment
Child marriage unleashes a domino effect of challenges keeping millions of impoverished young women and low-income countries from reaching their full potential. The costs are too high to ignore. When girls stay in school and exercise autonomy over their own lives, the benefits multiply. Women are able to have more control over when and how many children they have, what jobs they take, and how they spend the money they earn, all of which benefits societies.
Thankfully, governments around the world are taking steps to formally stop child marriage. UNICEF estimates that about 68 million child marriages were prevented over the last 25 years, but progress is still too slow. The world must collectively demand urgent action to put an end to this practice, once and for all. The numbers prove it: Ending child marriage is not just a moral imperative — it’s an economic necessity.