Year after year, the child marriage figures from Tamil Nadu, one of India's most literate states have been disappointing.

NCRB data from 2014 showed that the state topped the number of child marriages, a repeat of 2013.

These are registered cases, for which Prohibition of Child Marriage Act was invoked against the offenders.

And it is Chennai, South India’s biggest hub of cultural, business and education, which with most married girls under 15 years of age, according to 2011 Census data.With 5,480 girls under the age of 15 married, Chennai is followed by industrialized Coimbatore that had 3,025 married girls below the age of 15.

Madurai, Tirunelveli, Tirupur and Salem too showed more than 2,000 girls under the age of 15 who were married.

Activists working against child marriage say that while child marriages are predominant in rural areas, the numbers are higher in urban areas because of more population.

In Tamil Nadu, according to a recent data on fertility published by Census 2011, there were 82.52 lakh girls under the age of 15 when the data was recorded, and 62,500 of these were married. The data also includes girls who were widowed and separated.

The Census figures also reveal that 16,855 underage girls had given birth to at least one child. The number of child marriages in the state could be higher as there is no data available for married people in the age limit of 15-18. Census 2011 has recorded data for people in the age group of 15-19.

Child rights activists and ground-level workers who have prevented child marriages say that in most child marriages, the family decides to marry off the daughters due to weak economic status.

"In a village near Alandurai in Coimbatore, people of a particular community get girls married once they attain puberty. They feel that it is unsafe for girls to remain unmarried after attaining puberty. Girls drop out of school too," said Krishnaraj K, a child rights activist.