⚠️ Unconfirmedsocial2024
Child marriage among girls: share married before age 18 (%)
Percentage of women aged 20–24 who were married or in union before age 18, latest available year by country (UNICEF/UN SDG).
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Key Insights
Global Average
16.4%
Median: 12.0%
Countries Covered
166
with available data
Highest
Niger
76.0%
Lowest
Austria
0.0%
Top 5 Countries
1Niger76.0%
2Chad67.0%
3Bangladesh59.0%
4Burkina Faso52.0%
5Somalia45.0%
By Region
Africa22.4%(9 countries)
Other22.1%(90 countries)
South America16.6%(7 countries)
North America14.0%(4 countries)
Asia12.1%(24 countries)
Key Findings
- •Child marriage prevalence varies dramatically across countries—from near-zero in some countries to well over half in others.
- •Higher prevalence is concentrated in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, but it is present in every region.
- •Using women aged 20–24 makes it a near-term progress metric: changes can be detected within roughly a decade.
- •Survey-based measurement enables comparability, but differing survey years can complicate ‘same-year’ comparisons.
Country Rankings
Top 10 Countries
Bottom 10 Countries
Data Analysis
Value Distribution
How countries are distributed across the value range
Low (0.0%)High (76.0%)
Regional Comparison
Average values by world region (Global avg: 16.4%)
Africa (9)
Other (90)
South America (7)
North America (4)
Asia (24)
Oceania (2)
Europe (30)
About This Statistic
This statistic measures the prevalence of child marriage among girls using a standardized SDG indicator: the percentage of women aged 20–24 who were married or in a union before their 18th birthday. Focusing on women ages 20–24 provides a recent cohort-based snapshot that is comparable across countries.
The indicator is widely used to track progress toward ending child marriage under SDG target 5.3. Values typically come from large, nationally representative household surveys (e.g., DHS, MICS) and are updated as new survey rounds are released—so “latest available year” differs by country, but most observations are from 2019–2024.
Full Data
| Rank ↑ | Country ↕ | Value ↕ |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Niger | 76.0% |
| 2 | Chad | 67.0% |
| 3 | Bangladesh | 59.0% |
| 4 | Burkina Faso | 52.0% |
| 5 | Somalia | 45.0% |
| 6 | Nigeria | 43.0% |
| 7 | Malawi | 42.0% |
| 8 | Eritrea | 41.0% |
| 9 | Guinea | 41.0% |
| 10 | Nicaragua | 41.0% |
| 11 | Ethiopia | 40.0% |
| 12 | Nepal | 40.0% |
| 13 | Cameroon | 38.0% |
| 14 | Democratic Republic of the Congo | 37.0% |
| 15 | Cape Verde | 36.0% |
| 16 | Liberia | 36.0% |
| 17 | Brazil | 36.0% |
| 18 | Equatorial Guinea | 35.0% |
| 19 | Madagascar | 35.0% |
| 20 | Mauritania | 35.0% |
| 21 | Brunei Darussalam | 35.0% |
| 22 | Cayman Islands | 34.0% |
| 23 | Honduras | 34.0% |
| 24 | Zimbabwe | 34.0% |
| 25 | Sudan | 34.0% |
| 26 | Uganda | 34.0% |
| 27 | Republic of the Congo | 33.0% |
| 28 | Dominican Republic | 33.0% |
| 29 | Gabon | 33.0% |
| 30 | Lao People's Democratic Republic | 33.0% |
| 31 | Cote d'Ivoire | 32.0% |
| 32 | Yemen | 32.0% |
| 33 | Angola | 32.0% |
| 34 | Senegal | 31.0% |
| 35 | Central African Republic | 30.0% |
| 36 | Republic of The Gambia | 30.0% |
| 37 | Guatemala | 30.0% |
| 38 | Mozambique | 30.0% |
| 39 | Guinea-Bissau | 30.0% |
| 40 | Sierra Leone | 30.0% |
| 41 | United Republic of Tanzania | 30.0% |
| 42 | Solomon Islands | 30.0% |
| 43 | Zambia | 29.0% |
| 44 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 28.0% |
| 45 | Lesotho | 27.0% |
| 46 | Suriname | 26.0% |
| 47 | Benin | 25.0% |
| 48 | El Salvador | 25.0% |
| 49 | Venezuela | 25.0% |
| 50 | Botswana | 25.0% |
| 51 | Iraq | 24.0% |
| 52 | Mexico | 24.0% |
| 53 | Colombia | 23.0% |
| 54 | India | 23.0% |
| 55 | Kenya | 23.0% |
| 56 | Samoa | 23.0% |
| 57 | Belize | 23.0% |
| 58 | Fiji | 22.0% |
| 59 | Paraguay | 22.0% |
| 60 | Ecuador | 21.0% |
| 61 | Vanuatu | 21.0% |
| 62 | Papua New Guinea | 21.0% |
| 63 | Panama | 20.0% |
| 64 | Peru | 20.0% |
| 65 | Cambodia | 19.0% |
| 66 | Ghana | 19.0% |
| 67 | Pakistan | 18.0% |
| 68 | Timor-Leste | 18.0% |
| 69 | Islamic Republic of Iran | 17.0% |
| 70 | Egypt | 17.0% |
| 71 | Myanmar | 16.0% |
| 72 | Cuba | 16.0% |
| 73 | Haiti | 16.0% |
| 74 | Mali | 16.0% |
| 75 | Philippines | 16.0% |
| 76 | Cyprus | 15.0% |
| 77 | Türkiye | 15.0% |
| 78 | Georgia | 14.0% |
| 79 | Indonesia | 14.0% |
| 80 | Tajikistan | 14.0% |
| 81 | Thailand | 14.0% |
| 82 | Syrian Arab Republic | 13.0% |
| 83 | Burundi | 12.0% |
| 84 | Sri Lanka | 12.0% |
| 85 | Morocco | 12.0% |
| 86 | Djibouti | 11.0% |
| 87 | Vietnam | 11.0% |
| 88 | Armenia | 11.0% |
| 89 | Bulgaria | 10.0% |
| 90 | Algeria | 10.0% |
| 91 | Bolivia | 10.0% |
| 92 | Trinidad and Tobago | 9.0% |
| 93 | Costa Rica | 8.0% |
| 94 | Jamaica | 8.0% |
| 95 | Jordan | 8.0% |
| 96 | Eswatini | 8.0% |
| 97 | Kazakhstan | 7.0% |
| 98 | Kyrgyzstan | 7.0% |
| 99 | Malaysia | 7.0% |
| 100 | Namibia | 7.0% |
| 101 | Rwanda | 7.0% |
| 102 | Uruguay | 7.0% |
| 103 | Uzbekistan | 7.0% |
| 104 | Chile | 6.0% |
| 105 | Lebanon | 6.0% |
| 106 | Libya | 6.0% |
| 107 | Mongolia | 6.0% |
| 108 | Moldova, Republic of | 6.0% |
| 109 | South Africa | 6.0% |
| 110 | Togo | 6.0% |
| 111 | Turkmenistan | 6.0% |
| 112 | Ukraine | 5.0% |
| 113 | Bahrain | 5.0% |
| 114 | Oman | 4.0% |
| 115 | Qatar | 4.0% |
| 116 | Romania | 4.0% |
| 117 | Saudi Arabia | 4.0% |
| 118 | Serbia | 4.0% |
| 119 | Afghanistan | 4.0% |
| 120 | Kuwait | 3.0% |
| 121 | United Arab Emirates | 3.0% |
| 122 | Tunisia | 3.0% |
| 123 | The Republic of North Macedonia | 3.0% |
| 124 | Argentina | 3.0% |
| 125 | Australia | 3.0% |
| 126 | People's Republic of China | 2.0% |
| 127 | Comoros | 2.0% |
| 128 | Greece | 2.0% |
| 129 | Latvia | 2.0% |
| 130 | New Caledonia | 2.0% |
| 131 | New Zealand | 2.0% |
| 132 | Russian Federation | 2.0% |
| 133 | Belgium | 2.0% |
| 134 | Belarus | 1.0% |
| 135 | Canada | 1.0% |
| 136 | Croatia | 1.0% |
| 137 | Czech Republic | 1.0% |
| 138 | Denmark | 1.0% |
| 139 | Estonia | 1.0% |
| 140 | Finland | 1.0% |
| 141 | France | 1.0% |
| 142 | State of Palestine | 1.0% |
| 143 | Germany | 1.0% |
| 144 | Hungary | 1.0% |
| 145 | Ireland | 1.0% |
| 146 | Israel | 1.0% |
| 147 | Italy | 1.0% |
| 148 | Japan | 1.0% |
| 149 | Lithuania | 1.0% |
| 150 | Luxembourg | 1.0% |
| 151 | Montenegro | 1.0% |
| 152 | Netherlands | 1.0% |
| 153 | Country 532 | 1.0% |
| 154 | Norway | 1.0% |
| 155 | Poland | 1.0% |
| 156 | Portugal | 1.0% |
| 157 | Seychelles | 1.0% |
| 158 | Singapore | 1.0% |
| 159 | Slovenia | 1.0% |
| 160 | Spain | 1.0% |
| 161 | Sweden | 1.0% |
| 162 | Switzerland | 1.0% |
| 163 | United Kingdom | 1.0% |
| 164 | United States of America | 1.0% |
| 165 | Albania | 1.0% |
| 166 | Austria | 0.0% |
Showing 166 of 166 countries
Topics
Data Source
This data comes from UNICEF (SDG Global Database) (2024).
View Original Source