• Says 1-in-3 Women Marry, 1-in-5 Give Birth Before 18 Globally
• Blames Phenomenon For Prevalence Of Poverty

A new report by the World Bank and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) released on Tuesday says developing countries would lose trillions of US Dollars to child marriages which negatively impact the educational attainment of the girl-child and their children by 2030.
Putting an end to child marriages, in contrast, according to the report titled: Economic Impacts of Child Marriage, would have a large positive effect on the educational attainment of girls and their children, contribute to women having fewer children and later in life, and increase women’s expected earnings and household welfare.
Specifically, the report said the Nigeria loses about $7.6bn annually in earnings and productivity, as the menace reduces women’s expected earnings in the labor market, resulting from its impact on education.
“Women who marry as children have, on average, earnings that are nine percent lower than if they had married later,” according to report which spanned over a period of 30 years.
The report however noted that the prevalence of child marriage, described as a union before the age of 18, has decreased in many countries, but it still remains far too high. In a set of 25 countries for which detailed analysis was conducted, at least one in three women marry before the age of 18, and one in five women have their first child before the age of 18.
Across the countries considered in the report, three in four early childbirths (children born to a mother younger than 18) are attributed to child marriage. The report estimates that a girl marrying at 13 will have on average 26% more children over her lifetime than if she had married at 18 or later. This means that ending child marriage would reduce total fertility rates by 11% on average in those countries, leading to substantial reductions in population growth over time. In Niger, the country with the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world, the population by 2030 could be five percent smaller if child marriage and early childbirths were eliminated.
The analysis suggests that by 2030, gains in annual welfare from lower population growth could reach more than $500bn annually. In Uganda, the benefit from reduced fertility would be equivalent to $2.4 billion, while in Nepal this would be almost $1bn.
The report confirms that keeping girls in school is one of the best ways to avoid child marriage. Each year of secondary education reduces the likelihood of marrying as a child before the age of 18 by five percentage points or more. Child brides are much more likely to drop out of school and complete fewer years of education than their peers who marry later. This affects the education and health of their children, as well as their ability to earn a living.
“Every day more than 41,000 girls marry before the age of 18. Poverty, gender inequality, poor access to quality education and to youth-friendly sexual and reproductive health services, and a lack of decent employment opportunities, help perpetuate child marriage and early childbirths,” said Suzanne Petroni, ICRW’s Project Director and co-author of the report. “These will all need to be addressed for countries to successfully end this harmful and costly practice.”
According to the report, ending child marriage would also reduce rates of under-five mortality and delayed physical development due to a lack of appropriate nutrition (stunting). Globally, the estimated benefits of lower under-five mortality and malnutrition could reach more than $90 billion annually by 2030.
Finally, budget savings would be reaped by governments in the cost of providing basic education, health, and other services. In many countries, thanks to lower population growth, eliminating child marriage today would save governments five percent or more of their education budget by 2030.
The Economic Impacts of Child Marriage project was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and the Global Partnership for Education.
Commenting on the report, Quentin Wodon, the World Bank’s Project Director and co-author of the report, noted that “Child brides are often robbed of their rights to safety and security, to health and education, and to make their own life choices and decisions. Child marriage not only puts a stop to girls’ hopes and dreams. It also hampers efforts to end poverty and achieve economic growth and equity. Ending this practice is not only the morally right thing to do but also the economically smart thing to do.”