WB has highest number of child marriages now
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
08.02.2019
If you thought Bimaru states topped in child marriages, think again. West Bengal now has the highest incidence of girls aged between15 and19 years being married off, far ahead of states like Rajasthan that one traditionally associated with child brides.
However, the findings of the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), conducted in 2015-16, show a steady decline across states, barring a marginal increase in two states – Himachal Pradesh and Manipur. The national average is now 11.9% At the time NFHS-3 was conducted in 2005-06, Bihar topped in child marriages, with a prevalence as high as 47.8%; Jharkhand was at number 2 with 44.7% and Rajasthan at number 3 with 40.4%. Bengal came in fourth with 34%.
But in the 10 years since then, some of the Bimaru states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — managed to reduce the incidence of child marriage by over 20 percentage points. In the same period, Bengal managed only an 8.4 percentage point reduction.
District-level analysis using NFHS-4 reveals that Murshibad (39.9%) in Bengal shows the highest prevalence of child marriage amongst 15-19-year-olds, followed by Gandhinagar
(39.3%) in Gujarat and Bhilwara (36.4%) in Rajasthan. However, Bihar has the maximum number of districts with high prevalence
(20), followed by Bengal (14) and Jharkhand (11).
Not surprisingly, child marriage is far more prevalent in rural areas — for rural areas, it is 14.1% on an average, while it is 6.9% in urban India. It is also directly linked to income — the more educated and well-off the girl’s family is, the less likely it is to marry the child off.
The highest prevalence of child marriage is reported amongst Scheduled Tribe girls (15%) followed by Scheduled Castes (13%). However, amongst the top 10 states with highest prevalence of child marriage, it cuts across caste groups. For instance, in Maharashtra, 38% of child brides — the highest percentage — belonged to forward castes.
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
08.02.2019
If you thought Bimaru states topped in child marriages, think again. West Bengal now has the highest incidence of girls aged between15 and19 years being married off, far ahead of states like Rajasthan that one traditionally associated with child brides.
However, the findings of the National Family Health Survey-4 (NFHS-4), conducted in 2015-16, show a steady decline across states, barring a marginal increase in two states – Himachal Pradesh and Manipur. The national average is now 11.9% At the time NFHS-3 was conducted in 2005-06, Bihar topped in child marriages, with a prevalence as high as 47.8%; Jharkhand was at number 2 with 44.7% and Rajasthan at number 3 with 40.4%. Bengal came in fourth with 34%.
But in the 10 years since then, some of the Bimaru states — Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh — managed to reduce the incidence of child marriage by over 20 percentage points. In the same period, Bengal managed only an 8.4 percentage point reduction.
District-level analysis using NFHS-4 reveals that Murshibad (39.9%) in Bengal shows the highest prevalence of child marriage amongst 15-19-year-olds, followed by Gandhinagar
(39.3%) in Gujarat and Bhilwara (36.4%) in Rajasthan. However, Bihar has the maximum number of districts with high prevalence
(20), followed by Bengal (14) and Jharkhand (11).
Not surprisingly, child marriage is far more prevalent in rural areas — for rural areas, it is 14.1% on an average, while it is 6.9% in urban India. It is also directly linked to income — the more educated and well-off the girl’s family is, the less likely it is to marry the child off.
The highest prevalence of child marriage is reported amongst Scheduled Tribe girls (15%) followed by Scheduled Castes (13%). However, amongst the top 10 states with highest prevalence of child marriage, it cuts across caste groups. For instance, in Maharashtra, 38% of child brides — the highest percentage — belonged to forward castes.
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