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New Delhi: India ranks third when it comes to having child brides and still about half of Indian women get married before they turned 18, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

“Adolescents (10-19 years) form 21 percent of India’s population, of which adolescent girls constitute 48 percent (115 million). Despite improvements on several key development indicators, there are still issues which limit adolescents, especially girls, from achieving their full potential,” said a press release issued by the UNFPA.

“Around 14 per cent of girls aged 15-19 years are illiterate, and 73 per cent never get to complete more than 10 years of school,” UNFPA said.

It reported that , India accounts for a third of the world’s child brides; about half of Indian women are married before they turn 18.

“The Facts like these, makes the global theme of this World Population Day, ‘Investing in Teenage Girls,’ especially relevant and important for India.”

The awareness about global population issues is being raised every year by obsevering World Population day on July 11.

“The new development agenda calls on us to leave no one behind,” said the UNFPA press release, citing Executive Director Babatunde Osotimehin.

“Marginalised girls are vulnerable to poor reproductive health and more likely to become mothers while still children themselves. They have a right to understand and control their own bodies and shape their own lives,” Osotimehin said.

(With Agency input)

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