© Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Dominique Catton | Children playing in Moubena, Niger | 2018
How delayed marriage supports women's economic empowerment
Access to income and assets
Lower educational attainment and increased fertility reduce women’s ability to find work outside the home and increase responsibility for household work among those married early
Child marriage and the 2030 agenda: Selected findings from early research
Country-level analyses by ICRW/World Bank suggest that delayed marriage could result in a 5–15 percent increase in women’s labor force participation.
Wodon et al. | 2015
Educating girls and ending child marriage: A priority for Africa
A study of 12 African nations found that women who married early earned 8 percent less on average than those who married after age 18. This earnings gap results in a roughly 1 percent loss in national earnings by both men and women.
Wodon et al. | 2018
A study in Ethiopia posited that eliminating child marriage could result in a 1.5 percent increase in women’s earnings.
Wodon et al. | 2018
Control of and benefit from economic gains
Teenage wives typically have limited bargaining power in the household
Sexual and reproductive health needs of married adolescent girls
Married girls under age 20 are 14 percent less likely to influence budgeting decisions in the household and only 45 percent of married girls age 15–19 had access to cash, compared to 58 percent of married women age 20–34.
Santhya and Jejeebhoy | 2003
How delayed marriage produces further benefit
Education
Delayed marriage increases schooling and literacy, while early marriage reduces the likelihood of secondary school completion
Early marriage, age of menarche, and female schooling attainment in Bangladesh
For every year of delayed marriage, girls attended school 0.22 years longer and improved literacy by 5.6 percent.
Field and Ambrus | 2008
Impact of child marriage on literacy and education attainment in Africa
Each year of early marriage reduces likelihood of secondary school completion by 4 percent.
Nguyen and Wodon | 2014
Family planning
Child marriage is linked to increased likelihood of adolescent pregnancy
Adolescent pregnancy
In the developing world, 90 percent of adolescent pregnancy occurs within marriage.
Mangiaterra et al. | 2008
Impact of child marriage on fertility in Nigeria
Nigerian girls who marry early had 1.4 more children on average than those who marry after age 18.
Onagoruwa and Wodon | 2015
Health
Child marriage is linked to higher rates of maternal mortality and morbidity, increased rates of depression, and greater susceptibility to HIV infection
New findings for maternal mortality age patterns: Aggregated results for 38 countries
Maternal mortality is 28 percent higher for girls age 15–19 compared to those age 20–24.
Blanc et al. | 2013
Child marriage in the United States and its association with mental health in women
Child marriage is connected to increased rates of depression in the United States.
Le Strat et al. | 2011
Child marriage: A silent health and human rights issue
Girls who marry before age 18 are more likely to contract HIV.
Nour | 2009