About us

The Child Marriage Data Portal is home to the latest data on the practice of child marriage around the world. It showcases global, regional and national-level data describing how common child marriage is, how many girls and women are affected, and how the situation has changed over time. The data are disaggregated to highlight disparities within and among countries based on household wealth, educational attainment, rural or urban residence and subnational regions. The site’s interactive design allows users to review past, present and projected future trends in child marriage. 

The Country Profiles page allows users to select a country of interest through an interactive globe. The presentation provides easy comparisons between country-level and global and regional data. The Data Centre & Resources page enables users to download full datasets and explore various resources available, including publications, news items, tools and partner sites, and the Blog page continues the conversation. 

Child marriage refers to any formal marriage or informal union between a child under the age of 18 and an adult or another child. Despite a steady decline in this harmful practice over the past decade, child marriage remains widespread: Approximately one in five young women across the globe were married before age 18.

Child marriage often compromises a girl’s development by resulting in early pregnancy and social isolation, interrupting her schooling, limiting her opportunities for career and vocational advancement, and placing her at risk of domestic violence. 

Source: Adapted from UNICEF

While boys and girls who marry in childhood do not face the same risks and consequences due to biological and social differences, the practice is nonetheless a rights violation for children of both sexes. Similar to child brides, child grooms are forced to take on adult responsibilities for which they may not be prepared. The union may bring early fatherhood and result in additional economic pressures associated with providing for a household; it may also constrain a boy’s access to education and opportunities for career advancement.

Globally, 115 million boys and men were married before age 18. The countries in which child marriage among boys is most common are geographically diverse. Moreover, they differ from the countries in which the practice is most common among girls.

Source: UNICEF

The data found on the website are sourced from UNICEF’s global databases. UNICEF is the custodian agency for monitoring global progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target on ending child marriage.

The main data sources for the global databases are national household surveys, predominantly the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The prevalence of child marriage can also be measured through population-level data collection instruments, such as censuses, if the age at first marriage is captured. In a small number of countries this information is available through marriage registers.

UNICEF updates its databases annually in consultation with national governments. Before the inclusion of any data point, it is reviewed by sector specialists to check for consistency and overall data quality. 

Source: Adapted from UNICEF

Please contact us at: <childmarriagemonitoring@unicef.org>.

The Child Marriage Data Portal was designed and developed by UNICEF on behalf of the Child Marriage Monitoring Mechanism; it is also maintained by UNICEF.

The CMMM is a multi-stakeholder initiative that promotes data use in the effort to eliminate child marriage. It puts forth evidence to hold stakeholders accountable and to support national and global forums to renew commitments.

In many countries, data on indicators relevant to child marriage remain siloed. With no easy way to view interrelated data and results over time, much learning is lost. Thus, a mechanism that regularly integrates multi-country, periodic data on relevant indicators fills a critical gap. It enhances our ability to assess how and why shifts occur in child marriage in different settings over different time periods. And it helps identify areas where more concentrated efforts are needed. 

The CMMM is guided by a Strategic Advisory Group of key stakeholders from diverse backgrounds who have the expertise, insight and networks to drive action, collaboration and investment. Given its role as custodian agency within the monitoring infrastructure on child marriage (SDG 5.3), UNICEF serves as the CMMM’s technical lead and secretariat. 

Members of the Strategic Advisory Group include representatives from the African Union Commission, African Union Commission Youth Division, Girls Not Brides, Global Affairs Canada, Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad), Population Council, South Asia Initiative to End Violence against Children (SAIEVAC), United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women.

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