Percentage of women married before 18
| 10% | 20% | 30% | 40% | 50% | 60% |
The term ‘child marriage’ refers to formal marriages and informal unions in which a girl or boy under age 18 lives with a partner as if married. In an informal union, a couple lacks a formal civil or religious ceremony. Our graphic is based on United Nations information. The main sources are national census and household surveys, including the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). Surveys are subject to sampling and measurement error. We used the U.N. child marriage and population figures to approximate how many women in each country were married before 15 and before 18.
Source: “Child Marriage Database”. UNICEF (March 2018)
“World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision”. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017)
Countries with highest rate of child marriage
According to a 2017 UNICEF report, the countries with the highest rates of child marriage before age 18 are:
| Country | Married by 18 |
|---|---|
| Niger | 76% |
| Central African Republic | 68% |
| Chad | 67% |
| Bangladesh | 59% |
| Mali | 52% |
| South Sudan | 52% |
| Burkina Faso | 52% |
| Guinea | 51% |
| Mozambique | 48% |
| Somalia | 45% |
Select a country to explore how it compares to the region.
United States
| 6.2 |
The number of children married per 1,000, ages 15-17 years old
(That's about .6%
of 15- to 17-year-olds .)
Source: Alissa Koski and Jody Heymann, “Child Marriage in the United States: How Common is the Practice and Which Children are at Greatest Risk?” (April 2018)
| x% | xx% |
| Married by 15 | Married by 18 |
About the data
The term ‘child marriage’ refers to formal marriages and informal unions in which a girl or boy under age 18 lives with a partner as if married. In an informal union, a couple lacks a formal civil or religious ceremony. Our graphic is based on United Nations information. The main sources are national census and household surveys, including the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). Surveys are subject to sampling and measurement error. We used the U.N. child marriage and population figures to approximate how many women in each country were married before 15 and before 18.
Source: “Child Marriage Database”. UNICEF (March 2018)
“World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision”. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2017)