PROGRESS AGAINST CHILD MARRIAGE IN INDIA SLOWS, 1 IN 5 GIRLS, 1 IN 6 BOYS MARRIED

One in five girls and about one in six boys in India are married, with the progress made towards eliminating the practice of child marriage entirely stagnating in recent years, according to a study published in ‘The Lancet Global Health’ journal.

Between 2016 and 2021, the practice of child marriage also became more common in some states and Union territories, researchers said in their study.

Girl child marriages increased in six states, including Manipur, Punjab, Tripura, and West Bengal, while eight states, including Chhattisgarh, Goa, Manipur, and Punjab, witnessed a rise in boy child marriages, the researchers found after analysing data from all five waves of India’s National Family Health Survey from 1993 to 2021.

The research team, comprising researchers from Harvard University and those affiliated with the Indian government, however, said that child marriage had declined nationally. Prevalence of girl child marriage decreased from 49 percent in 1993 to 22 percent in 2021, while that of boy child marriage came down from 7 percent in 2006 to 2 percent in 2021, they found.

Nevertheless, progress towards stopping the practice of child marriage altogether has stalled in recent years between 2016 and 2021, the researchers said. Child marriage numbers reduced the most between 2006 and 2016.