Bangladesh’s child marriage rate soars to highest in South Asia

City Desk :

The child marriage rate continues to rise since the COVID-19 pandemic, experts warn, as the latest UN data shows that more than half of Bangladeshi women are married before reaching adulthood – the highest percentage in the whole South Asia.

Bangladesh has long had one of the world’s highest rates of child marriage and, unlike other countries in the region, for the past few years has seen the situation worsening.

According to the annual report of the UN Population Fund released last month, 51 percent of Bangladeshi girls are found to have been married before turning 18 – the legal age for marriage.
The rate was significantly lower, at 29 percent in nearby Afghanistan, 23 percent in India, and 18 percent in Pakistan.

“Among South Asian countries, we are in a poor position when it comes to child marriage rates, even though we perform better on some other gender-related indicators set by the UN,” Rasheda K. Chowdhury, social activist and executive director of the Campaign for Popular Education, told Arab News.

“Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the child marriage rate in the country was around 33 percent. At that time, we were not the worst in South Asia in this regard. However, the pandemic disrupted everything reports Arab News.”

Data from the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics shows a steady increase in child marriage rates of several percent a year since 2020 – coinciding with coronavirus lockdowns, which exacerbated poverty, disrupted education, and increased household stress.
“Our research found that COVID-19 increased poverty, interrupted education for both boys and girls, and worsened malnutrition. In this context, many guardians from underprivileged communities chose to marry off their daughters in hopes of reducing the financial burden on their families,” Chowdhury said. “Poverty is the primary driver of early marriages, as many guardians are unable to cope with household expenses.