Child Marriage Among Girls in India: Prevalence,Trends and Socio-Economic Correlates

Abstract

This article examines prevalence of child marriage among girls in India, its trends and socio-economic correlates. It is based on data extracted from the National Family Health Survey (NFHS). This analysis shows that the prevalence of marriage among female children has considerably declined between 1992–1993 (NFHS-1) and 2015–2016 (NFHS-4). Its incidence by age cohorts also shows a significant reduction during the recent period. However, child marriage is persistent among uneducated, poor and rural women. The results of multivariate logistic regression reveal that the educational attainment and wealth status of the household are the most significant correlates of female child marriage in India. Girls and young women with secondary and higher educational levels are less likely to be married before 18 years compared to the uneducated ones. Further, females living in poverty are associated with increased odds of child marriage compared to those from wealthier economic status. The findings suggest that increasing opportunities for girls’ education and providing financial assistance to the poor families would eliminate the practice of child marriage among Indian women.

Keywords

Child marriage socio-economic correlates trend analysis logistic regression NFHS India

Introduction

Child marriage among girls is defined as any formal marriage or informal union under the age of 18 years. Although child marriage is a global phenomenon, it is highly prevalent among low- and lower-middle-income countries. Globally, around 650 million women are married under 18 years of age. South Asia is the home of the largest number of child brides worldwide (285 million or 44%), followed by sub-Saharan Africa (115 million or 18%). The prevalence of female child marriage is declining globally. An estimated 25 million child marriages (from 25% to 21%) have been prevented during the past decade. However, the progress in reducing child marriage would need to be 12 times faster than the rate observed over the past decade to meet the target of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) on eradicating the practice of child marriage by 2030 (UNICEF, 2018). Child marriages are common among women residing in rural areas, uneducated/having lower educational attainment, and those who have poor economic status, particularly in developing countries (Mathur et al., 2003; Nour, 2009; Paul, 2019; Raj et al., 2009; UNFPA, 2012).

The harmful practice of child marriage is recognised as a violation of human rights, as it violates the basic human rights of girls. Child marriage disrupts a girl’s education, limits economic opportunities and denies her childhood life. The United Nations SDG 5 aimed to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women and girls including child, early and forced marriage by 2030. Several international commitments acknowledged girls’ right to protection from harmful practices such as marriage as minor without consent, female genital mutilation and eliminate discrimination against girls. Article 16(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948, states that ‘marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses’ (United Nations, 1962). Article 16 of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), 1979, states that women have the same right as men to ‘freely to choose a spouse and to enter into marriage only with their free and full consent’ and ‘the betrothal and the marriage of a child shall have no legal effect’ (United Nations, 1979). Furthermore, the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) prescribed some human rights for children where the child has ‘the right to protection from harmful practices, abuse, and exploitation’ (United Nations, 1989).

Child marriage poses serious challenges to the health and well-being of women. Child marriage is negatively correlated with women’s healthcare-seeking, which further increases the risk of adverse physical and psychological health outcomes (Nour, 2009). The young women who married during their childhood are more likely to experience early motherhood (IRCW, 2012). Studies have indicated that child marriage is linked with high fertility, unintended or mistimed pregnancy, and pregnancy termination (Adhikari et al., 2009; Godha et al., 2013; Nasrullah et al., 2014; Nour, 2006; Paul, 2018; Raj et al., 2009; Santhya, 2011). Child or early marriage of women is found to be associated with an elevated risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV (Campbell, 2002; Clark, 2004; Nour, 2006). Early marriage and teenage childbearing also increase the risk of complications during pregnancy (IRCW, 2012; Nour, 2009; Paul, 2018), which further can lead to adverse birth outcomes, such as premature birth and low birth weight. Moreover, women who are married at an early age have lower power and status in the family. Controlling nature of the husband and mother-in-law over younger brides exposes them to a greater risk of intimate partner violence (Kidman, 2016; Raj et al., 2010).

The government of India has enacted several legislations to prevent the practice of child marriage at different points of time. During the British period, the Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929, also known as Sarda Act, was formulated to prohibit the marriage of girls below 14 years of age. The Child Marriage Restraint Amendment Act came up in 1976 when legal enforcement has been initiated to increase the marriage age from 14 to 18 years for girls. However, the incidence of child marriage remained high during 1980s and 1990s, and nearly half of the women (47%) were married before their 18th birthday during 2005–2006. Furthermore, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was replaced by the Child Marriage Prohibition Act, 2006, which recognised child marriage as voidable. By this Act, the state governments appoint child marriage prohibition officers to prevent the solemnisation of marriage before the legalisation of marriage. Besides, various state governments have initiated policies and programmes related to keeping girls in school and providing economic incentives to poor families that might significantly delay age at marriage of girls. India has made remarkable progress in reducing child marriage practice over the past decade. Recent estimates from the National Family Health Survey 4 (NFHS-4) demonstrate that approximately 27 per cent of the women aged 20–24 years are married under the age of 18 in 2015–2016 (IIPS & ICF, 2017). However, India still has the largest number of child brides worldwide.

S. N. Agarwala (1957) estimated the mean age at marriage by states, religion and castes in India using Census data where the study clearly states that the mean age at marriage of females is significantly increased following periods of the Sarda Act. B. Pramila (2013) presented the scenario of child marriage prevalence across Indian states and union territories. Regional variations of female child marriage have been reported in many earlier studies. Many scholars have put forwarded the notion of the north–south divide in terms of different gender indicators, where the southern states perform better in gender indicators than North India (Agarwal, 1994; Mandelbaum, 1970; Raju & Lahiri-Dutt, 2011; Sopher, 1980). Bina Agarwal (1994) made a comprehensive analysis of various dimensions of gender geography where she noted clear cut north–south differences regarding the practice of purdah, female labour force participation, village endogamy/exogamy and marriage norms. Dyson and Moore (1983) observed that the female age at marriage is considerably higher in the southern states compared to the northern part of India. Scholars also argue that women enjoy greater autonomy in the egalitarian part of the southern states as compared to the rigid patriarchal society of North India (Dyson & Moore, 1983; Raju & Lahiri-Dutt, 2011). However, recent studies report that the pattern of child marriage prevalence does not follow the north–south regionalisation; rather, the practice of child marriage is often cut across sociocultural boundaries of the country (Srinivasan et al., 2015; Saha, 2019). For instance, women’s position in Bengali society is considered to be higher compared to North Indian society. However, evidence suggests that West Bengal is one of the highest child marriage prevalence states of India in recent times. Saha (2019) has observed east–west regionalisation of underage marriage among girls before 15 years of age using Census data. However, the NFHS-4 (2015–2016) data indicates that the eastern parts of India (e.g., West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand) emerged as one of the highest concentrations of female child marriage for both groups of women who are married below 15 and 18 years of age (Ghosh, 2011; IIPS & ICF, 2017).

Several studies in developing countries have documented that the practice of girl child marriage is driven by poverty, sociocultural norms, dowry demand and long-term discrimination against girls (Caldwell et al., 1983; Chowdhury, 2004; Nour, 2009; Ghosh & Kar, 2010; UNICEF & UNFPA, 2018). Previous studies have consistently indicated that socio-economic factors are the most prominent determining factors of child marriage (Chakravarty, 2018; Hotchkiss et al., 2016; Jain & Kurz, 2007; UNICEF & UNFPA, 2018). Besides socio-economic status, patriarchal sociocultural norms have emerged as major driving forces behind the practice of child marriage in India and other South Asian countries (Chowdhury, 2004; UNICEF & UNFPA, 2018; Jejeebhoy, 2019). The influence of patriarchal sociocultural norms and values can reflect upon an individual, family/clan community or at the societal level that could perpetuate the harmful practices like child marriage. Regarding the role of the family/clan community, the timing of marriage, especially the arrange marriage, and selection of spouses are typically decided by parents or the clan community in Indian society. Parents often married off their daughters to reduce the financial burden on the household (Lee-Rife & Malhotra, 2012). In India, the increasing dowry demand reinforces the practice of child marriage. For instance, parents generally married off their daughter at an early age because the amount of dowry will be high if she becomes older (Caldwell et al., 1983). In patriarchal countries like India where the desire for children is high, especially male children, the younger brides are preferred because they have longer reproductive span to produce children and they can easily be controlled (Jensen & Thornton, 2003). Additionally, younger brides have less probability of previous sexual contact which is essential to protect the ‘prestige’ and ‘honour’ of the groom’s family as well as the bride’s family (Jensen & Thornton, 2003; Fred et al., 1998). Among Hindus, parents prefer to marry off their daughter before the onset of puberty because ‘purity’ at marriage is a prerequisite in Hindu culture (Bloom & Reddy, 1986). Parents also believe that marriage at an early age protects their daughter from premarital sexual activity, sexual abuse, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases (Jain & Kurz, 2007; Nour, 2009).

Although the negative consequences of child marriage have received much attention in many previous studies of India, investigating current trends, prevalence and correlates of girl child marriage received little importance. Trends of child marriage would provide an insight into the efforts of the government and non-governmental organisations to eradicate the practice of child marriage. Estimating the prevalence would help to identify the most vulnerable groups. Furthermore, the assessment of socio-economic correlates would assist stakeholders and policymakers to formulate and enact policies and programmes to eliminate the practice of child marriage in India. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the trends, prevalence by geographical regions, states and districts, and important socio-economic correlates of child marriage among girls in India using a nationally representative cross-sectional sample survey.

Methods

Data Source

This study has primarily used data from NFHS-4, conducted in 2015–2016. The NFHS-4 is a large-scale nationally representative cross-sectional sample survey of 601,509 households, 699,686 women aged 15–49 years and 112,122 men aged 15–54 years. This survey was carried out under the aegis of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), Government of India, and the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai. The main purpose of this survey was to provide crucial and updated data on population, health and demographic indicators. The samples were selected using a stratified two-stage sampling design. In the first stage, clusters were selected using probability proportional to size sampling. In the second stage, 22 households from each cluster were selected with an equal opportunity systematic selection from the household listing.¹

Data from all consecutive rounds of NFHS conducted during 1999–1993 (NFHS-1), 1998–1999 (NFHS-2), 2005–2006 (NFHS-3) and 2015–2016 (NFHS-4) have been utilised for the analysis of trends in child marriage and mean age at marriage.

In the present study, the sample size has been limited to women aged 20–24 years to measure the prevalence of child marriage as per the recommendation of the United Nations (Mathur et al., 2003). In India, 18 years is the minimum age for marriage of females according to the law. Therefore, the sample women are classified into two groups according to their age at first marriage: (a) child marriage (below 18 years) and (b) adult marriage (18 years and older).

In this study, regional variations in child marriage prevalence have been estimated from the NFHS-4. Indian states and union territories are grouped into six regions based on geographical locations and cultural settings. These regions are (a) North (Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand), (b) Central (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), (c) East (Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal), (d) Northeast (Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura), (e) West (Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra) and (f) South (Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, Tamil Nadu and Telangana).

Analytical Strategies

Simple cross-tabulation and multivariable logistic regression are employed for the analysis of the study. The prevalence of child marriage is measured from age at first marriage and tabulated by the socio-economic background of women. The dependent variable in this study is dichotomous (1 = child marriage; 0 = adult marriage). Socio-economic characteristics of women (i.e., place of residence, caste, religion, education and wealth quintile) are included as independent variables in this study. Multivariable binary logistic regression has been applied to examine the influence of socio-economic factors on child marriage. Multicollinearity is tested prior to running the multivariate analysis.

The multivariable logistic regression model can be expressed in the following form: ₀₁₁₂₂₃₃₄₄₅₅

Where, P = probability of child marriage (coded as ‘1’), 1 − P = probability of adult marriage (coded as ‘0’); X₁ = place of residence (1 = urban, 2 = rural); X₂ = caste (1 = Scheduled Caste [SC], 2 = Scheduled Tribe [ST], 3 = Other Backward Classes [OBC], 4 = forward caste); X₃ = religion (1 = Hindu, 2 = Muslim, 3 = Christian, 4 = others); X₄ = educational level (1 = illiterate, 2 = primary, 3 = secondary, 4 = higher); X₅ = wealth quintile (1 = poorest, 2 = poorer, 3 = middle, 4 = richer, 5 = richest); β₀ = intercept term and β_i = unknown coefficients (i = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). The results of multivariable logistic regression model are presented by odds ratio (OR) with 95 per cent confident interval (CI) and p-values for significance level. The sample weight is used for each individual in the dataset. All statistical analyses are performed using STATA version 12.1 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX, USA).

Results

Trends in Child Marriage Prevalence and Mean Age at Marriage

Trends in child marriage prevalence are estimated from the NFHS surveys conducted during 1992–1993, 1998–1999, 2005–2006 and 2015–2016. It is found that the prevalence of child marriage is significantly declined between 1992–1993 and 2015–2016. However, the rate of change considerably varies over the periods. The incidence of child marriage has reduced at a much faster rate between 2005–2006 and 2015–2016 than the previous survey years (see Figure 1). The age cohort distribution of child marriage shows that the prevalence is significantly higher among older women compared to women in the younger age group (see Figure 2). Overall, the mean age at marriage of girls is almost identical between 1992–1993 and 2005–2006. However, it shows a rising trend from 16.4 in 2005–2006 to 17.8 in 2015–2016. Furthermore, significant variations have been observed in state-wise trends of mean age at marriage (see Table 1).

Prevalence of Child Marriage by Regions, States and Districts

This study has found noticeable regional variations in the prevalence of child marriage. For instance, the highest prevalence of child marriage is found in the East region (38.3%), followed by the Northeast region (28%), while the lowest prevalence was observed in the South region (21.4%) of the country (see Figure 3).

Among state-level distribution, the highest rate of child marriage is observed in Bihar (42.5%), followed by West Bengal (41.6%), Jharkhand (37.9%) and Rajasthan (35.4%). The incidence of child marriage in eight states is more than the national average. These high incidence states require more focused attention to tackle the issue of child marriage. On the other hand, child marriage is the lowest in both Kerala and Punjab (7.6%), followed by Himachal Pradesh (8.6%) and Jammu and Kashmir (8.7%) (see Figure 4).

Figure 1.

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 1992–1993 to 2015–2016.

Figure 2.

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Table 1.

Trends in Mean Age at Marriage of Women Aged 20–24 Years Across Indian States, from 1992–1993 (NFHS-1) to 2015–2016 (NFHS-4)

States	NFHS-1	NFHS-2	NFHS-3	NFHS-4
Andhra Pradesh	15.5	16.0	16.2	17.7
Arunachal Pradesh	17.3	17.8	16.5	17.5
Assam	16.3	17.2	16.7	17.5
Bihar	16.3	16.4	15.4	17.1
Chhattisgarh	–	–	16.3	18.4
Goa	19.0	18.8	18.3	18.6
Gujarat	18.0	17.6	17.0	17.9
Haryana	17.1	17.6	17.2	18.6
Himachal Pradesh	18.3	19.2	19.1	19.5
Jammu and Kashmir	18.4	18.0	18.2	19.0
Jharkhand	–	–	15.5	17.3
Karnataka	16.3	16.7	16.7	18.1
Kerala	18.5	18.7	18.9	19.6
Madhya Pradesh	15.9	15.9	15.9	17.5
Maharashtra	16.3	16.7	17.2	18.0
Manipur	18.4	18.8	18.5	18.7
Meghalaya	18.0	17.6	17.7	18.0
Mizoram	18.9	18.9	18.2	18.5
Nagaland	18.4	18.1	17.6	18.5
Odisha	16.9	17.3	17.3	18.3
Punjab	18.9	19.0	18.3	19.5
Rajasthan	16.2	16.4	14.5	17.1
Sikkim	–	18.3	17.3	18.4
Tamil Nadu	17.6	18.2	18.4	18.6
Telangana	–	–	–	17.8
Tripura	16.7	17.2	16.9	17.5
Uttar Pradesh	16.8	16.4	15.8	18.1
Uttarakhand	–	–	18.1	18.8
West Bengal	16.1	16.8	16.4	17.3
India	16.6	16.1	16.4	17.8

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 1992–1993 to 2015–2016.

The district-level pattern of child marriage shows that the practice is highly prevalent in the East, West and Central regions of the country. Child marriage is also found to be higher in several pockets of the northern (e.g., Southern Haryana, Eastern Uttarakhand), southern (e.g., Andhra Pradesh) and north-eastern parts of India (e.g., Assam and Tripura) (see Figure 5). However, the pattern of child marriage does not follow the popular notion of the north–south divide. It is found that the prevalence of child marriage cut across the sociocultural boundaries of India. For instance, child marriage is found to be pervasive in the state of West Bengal. However, West Bengal is not the worse-performing state in other gender development indicators. Therefore, the child marriage pattern of the state contradicts with other gender development indicators. Similarly, Gujarat and Maharashtra are among the highest child marriage prevalence states of India despite their topmost position in the socio-economic development of the country.

Figure 3.

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Figure 4.

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Figure 5.

Source: Computed by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Prevalence of Child Marriage by Socio-Economic Characteristics of Women

In India, approximately 27 per cent of the women aged 20–24 years are married before 18 years. The prevalence of child marriage is significantly higher among women residing in rural areas (31%) compared to their urban counterparts (18%). Regarding caste group, the rate of child marriage is found to be highest among women who belonged to ST (33%), followed by SC (29.3%), while forward caste women has a significantly lower rate of child marriage (21.2%). Child marriage practice is common among Hindu, illiterate and poor women. In regard to religion-wise distribution, the prevalence of child marriage is 27.4 per cent, 26.7 per cent and 17.3 per cent among Hindus, Muslims and Christians, respectively. Concerning educational level, nearly half of the illiterate women (49.3%) are married as children, while only about 4 per cent of women who have higher level of education are married during their childhood. Women belonging to the poorest (44.6%) and poorer (36.3%) wealth quintiles have a substantially higher prevalence of child marriage compared to women from the richer (19.6%) and richest (9.5%) wealth quintiles (see Table 2).

Table 2.

Prevalence of Child Marriage by Socio-Economic Characteristics of Women in India, NFHS-4 (2015–2016)

Socio-Economic Characteristics	Child Marriage (%)	p-Value
Residence		<.001
Urban	17.5
Rural	31.5
Caste		<.001
Scheduled Caste	29.3
Scheduled Tribe	33.0
Other Backward Classes	26.3
Forward caste	21.2
Religion		<.001
Hindu	27.4
Muslim	26.7
Christian	17.3
Others	16.6
Education		<.001
Illiterate	49.3
Primary	45.7
Secondary	28.3
Higher	3.9
Wealth quintile		<.001
Poorest	44.6
Poorer	36.3
Middle	28.5
Richer	19.6
Richest	9.5
Overall	26.8

Source: Estimated by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Note: p-values are derived from Pearson’s chi-squared tests.

Socio-Economic Correlates of Child Marriage

Multivariate logistic regression analysis reveals that residing in rural areas has no significant difference with urban residence in the likelihood of child marriage. Compared with women belonged to SC, women from ST are less likely to get married before 18 years (OR = 0.90; 95% CI: 0.85–0.95; p < .001), while the likelihood of child marriage is significantly higher among those women who belonged to OBC (OR = 1.07; 95% CI: 1.03–1.12; p = .002) and forward caste (OR = 1.05; 95% CI: 1.00–1.11; p = .071). Compared to Hindu women, the odds of child marriage are lower among Muslims (OR = 0.83; 95% CI: 0.79–0.87; p < .001), Christians (OR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.73–0.86; p < .001) and other religious groups (OR = 0.76; 95% CI: 0.69–0.83; p < .001). The likelihood of child marriage decreases with an increasing level of education. Women with primary (OR = 0.87; 95% CI: 0.83–0.92; p < .001), secondary (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.50–0.55; p < .001) and higher (OR = 0.17; 95% CI: 0.16–0.19; p < .001) education are less likely to be married before 18 years compared to illiterate women. It is also found that the odds of child marriage decrease from the poorest quintile to the richest quintile of household wealth. Child marriage is significantly lower among women who belonged to the richer (OR = 0.53; 95% CI: 0.50–0.56; p < .001) and the richest wealth quintile (OR = 0.37; 95% CI: 0.35–0.40; p < .001) compared with women from the poorest wealth status (see Table 3).

Table 3.

Multivariable Logistic Regression Analysis for Assessing the Socio-Economic Correlates of Child Marriage, NFHS-4 (2015–2016)

Variables	OR	95% CI for OR		p-value
Variables	OR	Lower	Upper	p-value
Residence
Urban (Ref.)
Rural	1.00	0.95	1.04	.828
Caste
Scheduled Caste (Ref.)
Scheduled Tribe	0.90	0.85	0.95	<.001
Other Backward Classes	1.07	1.03	1.12	.002
Forward caste	1.05	1.00	1.11	.071
Religion
Hindu (Ref.)
Muslim	0.83	0.79	0.87	<.001
Christian	0.79	0.73	0.86	<.001
Other	0.76	0.69	0.83	<.001
Education
Illiterate (Ref.)
Primary	0.87	0.83	0.92	<.001
Secondary	0.53	0.50	0.55	<.001
Higher	0.17	0.16	0.19	<.001
Wealth quintile
Poorest (Ref.)
Poorer	0.86	0.82	0.90	<.001
Middle	0.69	0.66	0.73	<.001
Richer	0.53	0.50	0.56	<.001
Richest	0.37	0.35	0.40	<.001

Source: Estimated by the author from the National Family Health Survey, 2015–2016.

Notes: OR, Odds ratio; CI, Confidence interval; Ref: reference category.

Discussion

Child marriage is a complex phenomenon and highly context specific. Despite several international commitment and national legislation to eliminate the child marriage practice, it remains a common practice in India. Although India has witnessed a substantial decline in the prevalence of child marriage over the past two decades, the absolute number of child marriage is still large in the country. According to the NFHS-4 (2015–2016), about 27 per cent of the women are married before 18 years and 7 per cent of the women get married before 15 years (IIPS & ICF, 2017). This study has investigated the trends, prevalence and socio-economic correlates of child marriage, using a large-scale Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) of India. There are many earlier attempts to study the age at marriage of females in India (Agarwala, 1962; Bloom & Reddy, 1986; Caldwell et al., 1983; Sivaram et al., 1995). Recently, a few studies in India estimated the incidence of child marriage across states, districts and regions using data from Census and large-scale household surveys (Pramila, 2013; Srinivasan et al., 2015; Paul, 2019).

Trends analysis of this current study shows that the prevalence of child marriage has decreased at a slower rate between 1992–1993 and 2005–2006, while child marriage has declined at a much faster rate between 2005–2006 and 2015–2016. This is mainly due to the enforcement of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 when marriage before the legal age is recognised as a punishable offence. Besides the law, improvement in educational attainment, standard of living and enhancement in women empowerment have made significant progress in declining trends of child marriage practice. This study has also found that younger cohort women have a lower prevalence of child marriage compared to older women, which reflects declining trends of child marriage incidence over the period. A similar declining trend of child marriage also observed in Bangladesh (Kamal, 2011; Kamal et al., 2014) and Nepal (Aryal, 2007). The findings of present study reveal that the prevalence of child marriage is significantly differed according to the socio-economic characteristics of women. The variations in child marriage prevalence suggest the need for focused attention among the high prevalence groups.

It is found that women living in rural areas have a higher prevalence of child marriage compared to their urban counterparts. Women in urban areas are more educated, empowered and informed about the danger of child marriage than women living in rural areas. However, multivariate analyses of the current study reveal that rural-urban residence has no significant influence on the likelihood of child marriage. A study conducted in Bangladesh also found a similar result and dropped the variable (place of residence) from the analysis (Islam et al., 2016). It is possible that other socio-economic characteristics are more influential than the rural-urban residence. Other studies conducted in Bangladesh contrasts with the finding of the present study (Hossain et al., 2015; Kamal et. al., 2014). The present study has also found that women from SC and ST are less likely to be married before 18 years compared to women who belonged to forward caste. Moreover, the prevalence of child marriage is higher among Hindu women compared to Muslims and women from other religious groups. This finding has reinforced the influence of sociocultural norms in driving the practice of child marriage. For instance, among Hindus, daughters are married off soon after the onset of puberty (Caldwell et al., 1983). The educational attainment of women has a significant negative association with child marriage. Compared to illiterate, women with primary, secondary and higher education significantly have a lower probability of getting married before 18 years. This finding is consistent with studies conducted in many other developing countries (Choe et al., 2004; Hossain et al., 2015; Kamal et al., 2014; Raj et al., 2014). A recently conducted district-level study in India indicates that the probability of child marriage starts declining at secondary or higher levels of education (Paul, 2019). Education enhances girls’ autonomy in the household including decision-making ability regarding the timing of marriage. Moreover, the chances of getting married delays due to high job aspirations of educated women. The economic status of the household is found to be one of the most important correlates of child marriage among girls. The present study has found that women living in poverty are at a greater risk of child marriage compared with women from wealthier families. A similar finding also reported in earlier studies conducted in India and developing countries (Jain & Kurz, 2007; Paul, 2019; UNICEF & UNFPA, 2018). In economically poorer families, girls have limited opportunities to get education, and financial resource constraints of the family expose them to the risk of child marriage. Moreover, the burden of dowry compels poor parents to marry off their daughters at an early age.

This study has some limitations. First, it has used self-reported and retrospective data which are prone to recall bias and social desirability. Second, child marriage is largely determined by women’s natal family characteristics. However, the study has examined the socio-economic correlates of girl child marriage which include characteristics of the husband’s family. It is assumed that the respondent’s natal family and husband’s family have a similar socio-economic background. Nonetheless, socio-economic characteristics of the husband’s family may differ from women’s parental family. Third, causality between child marriage and socio-economic characteristics of women cannot be assumed from the findings of this study due to the cross-sectional nature of the information. Fourth, there is a greater possibility of women migrating from rural areas to urban due to marriage. Hence, the current place of residence of women may differ from childhood place of residence. Fifth, previous studies also have indicated that child marriage can be a cause of lower schooling attainment and dropping out of girls (Field & Ambrus, 2008; Lloyd & Mensch, 2008; Sekine & Hodgkin, 2017). Therefore, the relationship of education with child marriage could be bi-directional. The present study is limited to the unidirectional association of educational attainment with child marriage among girls and it is difficult to understand the bi-directional relationship from this cross-sectional study. Similarly, child marriage can also lead to fall women in poverty due to limited economic opportunities after marriage (Parsons et al., 2015). Despite the above limitations, the study has several strengths. The findings of this study are useful for policymakers and stakeholders to design policies on eliminating the practice of child marriage. The study is carried out using nationally representative samples, and the dataset is internationally recognised which is frequently used in demographic and public health research. The prevalence of child marriage has been measured as per the recommendation of United Nations definition using unit-level information on female age at marriage. Therefore, the results of the current study can be comparable with the findings of several other studies of India and other countries which have used similar kinds of database.

Conclusion

The findings of this study show that the prevalence of child marriage has substantially declined during recent periods in India. This declining trend of child marriage has been accompanied by many factors including enforcement laws against child marriage practice. The current study has examined the influence of socio-economic characteristics on child marriage among girls. The strong association between female educational attainment and child marriage suggests an improvement in access to secondary and higher education among young girls. As a result, it would enhance female autonomy in the household regarding marriage decision-making and thereby the chances of getting married during childhood become lower. Women with higher educational attainment have higher job aspirations, which may lead to postponement of marriage. Furthermore, improving the economic status of the household could be an effective means to eliminate the practice of child marriage. With regard to the enforcement of legislation, the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 is found to be effective in voiding the practice of child marriage as the rate of child marriage has substantially declined during the past two decades. Therefore, the government should also focus on the effective implementation of child marriage enforcement laws to prevent the practice. Besides, policymakers and programme administrators should pay special attention to rural and socially disadvantaged communities where most of the child marriages have taken place.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author received no financial support for research, authorship and/or publication of this article.

Note

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