As the world celebrated girl child's day on Tuesday, according to a report, today there around 700 million child brides in the world, with 15 million girls married annually before they reach 18, a rate of one every two seconds. It is said, a girl under 15 is married every seven seconds.
The report by Save the Children claims that at the current rate there will be 950 million child brides by 2030 and 1.2 billion in another 20 years. Out of the 195 independent sovereign states, seven still do not have a minimum age for marriage and in 30 countries, girls can be married aged 14 or 15 with their parent's consent. South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Central America are some of the worst affected regions.
India has the highest number of child marriages with 47% of girls - some 24.6 million - married off before they turn 18.
Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children said: “Child marriage isn't just a form of discrimination, it's a form of violence. Forcing girls to marry much older men robs them of their freedom and amounts to sexual slavery. Instead of being in school, married girls face domestic abuse and rape.”
