Around 75% of all child marriages took place in rural areas

With over 10 crore Indians, including 8.5 crore girls, being married off before they turn 18, every third child bride in the world is an Indian, a report has found.

The report, titled ‘Eliminating Child Marriage in India’, was released by ActionAid India on Friday and analyses data on child marriages based on the 2011 Census.

Some improvement

The report found that there had been some improvement in the age of marriage, but that India still accounted for about 33% of all child marriages in the world. Of the married female population in India, 30.2% had been child brides.

The report also found that 75% of all child marriages took place in rural areas as on 2011. The number was even higher for the period between 2007 and 2011, at 82%.

Uttar Pradesh accounted for the highest percentage of child marriages in India, at 16.6%.

In fact, U.P., Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh accounted for 70% of all child marriages in India as of 2011.

While releasing the report, chairperson of ActionAid India Shabana Azmi said that there was a need to address the underlying causes of child marriage.

“Patriarchy is at the root of child marriage, and patriarchy has to be tackled to eliminate child marriage. Spreading education and building confidence among girls enables them to resist child marriage and chart their own lives,” she said.

‘Economic problem too’

The author of the report, Dr. Srinivas Goli, of Jawaharlal Nehru University’s Centre for the Study of Regional Development, said that child marriage was not only a human rights or gender issue, but had an impact on the country’s progress as well.

“Women are half of the population and if we cannot combat child marriage, it may increase the extent of unhealthy and unskilled labour force. This can be a great hindrance to the economic prospects of the country,” said Dr. Goli.