Child Marriage

What Do Child Marriage Statistics Tell Us about Possible Solutions?

Child marriage
Child marriage statistics
Ending child marriage
History of child marriage

Tracking child marriage statistics is important to know if programs and initiatives are working. Many organizations are engaged in ending this human right’s violation through different avenues.

UNICEF’s latest statistics on underage marriage show that 25 million child marriages were prevented in the last ten years.1 This shows that progress has been and can continue to be made. Statistical measurements will need to be kept of the number of children given in marriage, abuse and death in those marriages, poverty status and other markers, as well.

Pushing down any one of these statistics is a step in the right direction for girls and women because they are so intertwined in the lives of those most affected.

The International Center for Research on Women has named five areas to tackle in order to continue the downward trend of underage marriage:2

  1. Empower girls with information, skills and support networks
  2. Provide economic support and incentives to girls and their families
  3. Educate and rally parents and community members
  4. Enhance girls’ access to a high-quality education
  5. Encourage supportive laws and policies

We would add a sixth, an essential framework for the girls and their family:

  1. Provide girls with the understanding that they were created by a God who loves them and values them just as they are.

By sponsoring a child through GFA, you can help provide her and her family with essentials that tackle some of the biggest factors that might lead to her early marriage. For $35 a month, families are provided with community-wide solutions such as nutritious food, clean water, medical care and tutoring assistance. Provision of these basics helps relieve the intense financial pressure that tempts parents to marry their daughters too young.

Knowing and understanding her value as a creation of God can break the chains of so many of the traps that keep women around the world from having full, productive lives simply because of their gender. Everything GFA does through child sponsorships, missionary sponsorships and other programs is built upon the these principles:

“Our mission in life is to be devout followers of Christ and to live lives fully pleasing to Him. God has given us a special love for people in need who do not know of Christ’s love…”4

Becoming a sponsor today is one simple way you can demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ.

Learn more about child marriage

1 UNICEF Child Marriage Databank Query. Last update August 2021. https://data.unicef.org/topic/child-protection/child-marriage/.
2 “Solutions to End Child Marriage.” International Center for Research on Women. 2013. https://www.icrw.org/publications/solutions-to-end-child-marriage-2/.
3 John 3:16
4 GFA’s Mission. GFA World. https://www.gfa.org/about/what-we-believe/.