Girls as young as ten are being forced to men, often a lot older, in countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia
One girl under the age of 15 is married every seven seconds, according to new analysis by Save the Children.
The charity said girls as young as ten are being forced to marry men, often a lot older than themselves, in countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.
Girls from poorer families or in conflict zones were most at risk of being forced into marriage, with associated risks of early pregnancy, domestic violence and abuse.
The international community has pledged to end child marriage by 2030, but the charity warned if current trends continue the total number of women married in childhood will grow to 1.2 billion by 2050.
Forcing girls to marry much older men robs them of their freedom and amounts to sexual slavery
Kevin Watkins, Save the Children’s chief executive, 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 violence, abuse and rape. They fall pregnant and are exposed to STIs including HIV.
“Bearing children before their bodies are ready means girls suffer complicated deliveries and even death.”
Save the Children runs a range of programmes that support the most disadvantaged girls around the world.
One such girl is 14-year-old Syrian refugee Sahar (not her real name) who was married aged 13 to a 20-year-old man. Sahar now lives in Lebanon and is two months pregnant.
She said: “The wedding day, I was imagining it would be a great day but it wasn’t. It was all misery. It was full of sadness. Many girls who get married at a young age get illnesses and suffer from bleeding. Thank God it didn’t happen to me.
“I feel really blessed that I am having a baby. But I am a child raising a child.”
The figures form part of a new report published by the charity on the International Day of the Girl.
The report ranks countries on an index according to child marriage, schooling, teen pregnancy, maternal deaths and number of female MPs.
Countries at the bottom of the index include Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia. Countries at the top include Sweden, Finland, Norway, Netherlands and Belgium. The UK ranks 15th out of 144 countries.
