Did you know that 1 in 3 girls in the developing world are married before 18, and 1 in 9 are married before the age of 15?
Child marriage effectively ends a girl’s childhood, curtails her education, minimizes her economic opportunities, increases her risk of domestic violence, and puts her at risk for very high-risk pregnancies.
According to UNESCO, if all women had primary school education, child marriages would drop by 1/6. Also, research suggests that approximately 78,400 children in the U.S. today are or have been married. Improved literacy can help end this cycle of lessened opportunity for child brides.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5