Here is some good news from UNICEF. According to a report from UNICEF, India saw a sharp decline in the child marriages over the last ten years with 27 per cent of the girls getting married before they turn majors, which was 47 per cent a decade ago.
This change in the Indian sub-continent has contributed significantly to a global decline in the child marriages. Overall, the proportion of girls who are hitched as children are decreased gradually by 15 per cent in the last decade, falling down from 1 in 4 to approximately 1 in 5, which is a positive change.
Going deep into the report by UNICEF, around 25 million child marriages were prevented globally in the last decade (2005-06 and 2015-16). The large reduction is seen in South Asia while India is at the forefront.
“South Asia has witnessed the largest decline in child marriages worldwide in the last ten years, as a girl’s risk of marrying before her 18th birthday has dropped by more than a third, from nearly 50 per cent, in large part due to progress in India,” said UNICEF in its report.
“When a girl is forced to marry as a child, she faces immediate and lifelong consequences. Her odds of finishing school decreases while her odds of being abused by her husband and suffering complications during pregnancy increase. There are also huge societal consequences, and higher risk of intergenerational cycles of poverty,” said Anju Malhotra, UNICEF’s Principal Gender Advisor.
Malhotra further added that each and every child marriage that is prevented can give another girl the chance to fulfill her potential. Given the world has pledged to end the child marriage by the year 2030, we are going to have collectively double the efforts to eradicate the millions of girls from having their childhoods stolen through this devastating practice, stressed Anju Malhotra.