12 million girls become child brides yearly – UNICEF

An estimated 12 million girls under 18 are getting married every year globally , according to new data from UNICEF released on Tuesday .
The newly collated figures signal a 15 per cent drop in the last decade, from one in four to approximately one in five girls.
UNICEF warned that if child marriage continues at the current rate , more than 150 million girls across the world will marry before their 18 th birthdays by 2030 .
“ When a girl is forced to marry as a child , she faces immediate and lifelong consequences .
“ Her odds of finishing school decrease while her odds of being abused by her husband and suffering complications during pregnancy increase , ” Anju Malhotra , UNICEF ’ s principal gender adviser , said in a statement .
In South Asia , there has been a decrease in the prevalence of child brides from 50 per cent ten years ago to 30 per cent today .
In sub – Saharan Africa there has also been a decline , with 43 per cent of women married in childhood ten years ago compared to 38 per cent today .
UNICEF said there has also been a shift in where the highest number of child brides are located , with close to one – third of all the most recently married child brides globally now in sub – Saharan Africa , compared to one in five a decade ago .
According to UNICEF , an estimated 650 million women alive today were married as children .
The UN Sustainable Development Goals sets out plans to end child marriage by 2030 .
NAN