Child marriage rate declines in Bangladesh in a major change: BDHS

In a major change, fewer girls are marrying before the legal age of 18 in Bangladesh now than before, a survey shows.

Nurul Islam Hasibbdnews24.com
Published : 24 March 2016, 03:45 PM
Updated : 24 March 2016, 04:02 PM

The latest Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (BDHS) has found that child marriage declined to 59 percent in 2014 from 65 percent in 2011, the “biggest” drop in recent decades.

In 15 years between 1996 and 2011, it declined only by four percentage points from 69 percent.

Bangladesh is criticised for the highest prevalence of child marriage in the world. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina pledged to eliminate this menace by 2040 in the London girls’ summit in 2014.

The BDHS, the final report of which was published on Wednesday, however, did not find a reason of the massive six percentage points decline in the three years between 2011 and 2014.

But the “completion” of secondary education of girls could be a factor, believed Dr Kanta Jamil, a senior adviser to the USAID’s Office of Population, Health, Nutrition and Education that supported the BDHS survey.

Citing the survey, she told bdnews24.com that women who had “completed” secondary or higher education marry almost five years later than those with no education.

“The percentage of females who have completed secondary school or higher was 16 in 2004, again 16 in 2007 and 18 in 2011. But this time (in 2014) it jumped to 25 percent,” she said, “this can be a factor for the delayed marriage.”

Child marriage that robs a girl’s physical, psychological and social development leads to early pregnancy, resulting in complications and deaths.

But, an ICDDR,B study earlier found that people in general do not consider this as a “problem” as they do not see any “visible” benefit in delaying marriage.

Young girls who suffered due to early marriage are the only ones aware of the pitfalls.

The study found social insecurity like sexual harassment, poverty, dowry, fear of breaking social norms, and pressure from others were the reasons behind early marriage.

An ICDDR,B Associate Scientist Dr Quamrun Nahar, who was earlier involved with the ICDDR,B study, said “girls become more conscious now than before”.

“This (child marriage) is a very complex issue. But education, awareness and different programmes to prevent child marriage might have played a role,” she told bdnews24.com.

“Girls become more conscious about their rights. They themselves are preventing the marriage through their friends, teachers or government officials. This could be one factor for the decline,” she said.

The BDHS collected data from more than 17,500 ever-married women aged between 15 years and 49 years in over 17,000 households across Bangladesh.