Bangladesh has highest child marriage rates in South Asia: Unicef

Bangladesh has the highest prevalence of child marriage in South Asia, and is among the 10 countries worldwide with the highest levels, says a Unicef report.

The Unicef report titled "Ending Child Marriage: A profile of progress in Bangladesh", which used the data from the Bangladesh 2019 Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, was published on Wednesday (3 May). 

The report also states that in Bangladesh, 51% of young women were married in childhood.

Among the country's entire population of girls and women, 38 million are married before the age of 18; of those, 13 million are married before the age 15.

However, child marriage begins to decline only among those with at least 10 years of schooling, and prevalence falls below 50% among those with at least 12 years of schooling.

The report also states that those with an education beyond secondary school are least likely to be child brides, even if they live in poorer households and reside in rural areas.

Nearly one in three child brides have a spouse who is at least 10 years older compared to one in four young women who married in adulthood, says the report,