Child marriage in South Asia has nearly halved since 2005
Share of women aged 20–24 married or in a union before age 18, %, UNICEF regional estimates, 2005–2025.
- 1. The world has already passed peak child
- 2. Japan's median age is more than three times Niger's
- 3. South Korea now has a quarter of its 1971 births
- 4. China's population is projected to more than halve by 2100
- 5. Japan now has over 100,000 centenarians, up from 153
- 6. Japan has 9 million empty homes: one in seven
- 7. One in ten in Japan will be foreign by 2070
- 8. Japan's foreign residents have doubled since 2012, passing 4 million
- 9. Jakarta, not Tokyo, is the world's largest city
- 10. Two in three newly licensed UK doctors qualified abroad
- 11. Iran dropped from top refugee host to fifth in 2025
- 12. More Christians live in sub-Saharan Africa than anywhere else
- 13. Two in three people live where fertility is below replacement
- 14. Japan's births fell below half their 1899 level
- 15. DR Congo now has more children than Brazil
- 16. Brazil now has more people over 65 than Germany
- 17. Egypt has more asylum seekers than Germany, Spain and Italy
- 18. 34 countries and territories are past their population peak
- 19. Chile's fertility rate fell below Italy's and Japan's
- 20. Nigeria now has almost 25 million more people than Brazil
- 21. Thailand's births have fallen below its deaths
- 22. Women hold at least half the seats in seven parliaments
- 23. Child marriage in South Asia has nearly halved since 2005
- 24. Six in ten child deaths now happen in sub-Saharan Africa
Young women in South Asia married before 18, 2025 estimate, down from 48.8% in 2005.
First estimate with sub-Saharan Africa above South Asia: 34.5% vs 31.2%. It is now the highest of any region.
World rate in 2025, down from 24.2% in 2005. Latin America barely moved: 21.0% to 18.4%.
the numbers & method
| Year | South Asia (%) | Sub-Saharan Africa (%) | World (%) | Latin America (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | 48.8 | 38.3 | 24.2 | 21.0 |
| 2010 | 45.2 | 38.4 | 22.9 | 22.4 |
| 2015 | 38.1 | 37.1 | 22.0 | 20.9 |
| 2020 | 31.2 | 34.5 | 20.6 | 19.4 |
| 2025 | 25.2 | 30.7 | 18.5 | 18.4 |
Claim types Estimate
Series SP_DYN_MRBF18 'Proportion of women aged 20-24 years who were married or in a union before age 18 (%)', SDG regional groupings (UN Southern Asia, M49 34, which includes Iran (UNICEF's own South Asia region does not), Sub-Saharan Africa 202, Latin America and the Caribbean 419, World 1); source 'UNICEF estimates based on DHS, MICS and other national surveys'. Read from the UN SDG Global Database API (release 2026.Q3.G.01) on 4 Nov 2026. Values (2005, 2010, 2015, 2020, 2025): Southern Asia 48.766, 45.184, 38.116, 31.173, 25.208; Sub-Saharan Africa 38.314, 38.444, 37.137, 34.527, 30.748; World 24.174, 22.873, 21.989, 20.595, 18.468; Latin America and the Caribbean 20.983, 22.391, 20.876, 19.439, 18.442. Regional coverage (UNICEF footnote): Southern Asia 8 countries, 97% of women aged 20–24; sub-Saharan Africa 37 countries, 92%; world 119 countries, 82%; Latin America and the Caribbean covers 52%. The UN footnote on every point reads that estimates 'are derived from available data sources within the reference period of 2016 to 2025' with adjustments for countries with missing data: treat the points as UNICEF modelled trend estimates, not annual counts. UNICEF notes that such estimates reflect child marriages that occurred at least two years and as many as six or more years before the reported year. 'Nearly halved': 48.766 / 25.208 = 1.93, a 48% fall (UNICEF's own phrase is 'dropped by nearly half'). 'Highest of any region': among SDG geographic regions in 2025; two country groupings are higher (least developed countries 35.0%, landlocked developing countries 31.3%). Licence: UNICEF terms not confirmed for commercial reuse, so this plate is not sold.
Published 4 Nov 2026
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