Underage marriages are declining, but at a rate that would not eliminate this "violation of children's rights" for another 300 years, UNICEF said.
The UN organisation specialising in children's rights has expressed concern that a convergence of crises could reverse this trend.
"We have undoubtedly made progress in abandoning the practice of child marriage, particularly in the last ten years. But this is not enough," Claudia Cappa, a senior advisor at UNICEF and author of the report told AFP on Tuesday.
According to UNICEF, 640 million girls and women today were married when they were under 18. However, over the past 25 years, 68 million of these marriages have been prevented.
In 1997, 25% of young women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18, while figure stood at 23% in 2012, and 19% in 2022.
"At this rate, we would have to wait 300 years to eliminate child marriage," commented Claudia Cappa, noting that the majority of these marriages involve girls aged 12 to 17.
As things stand, the number of girl marriages is still expected to exceed 9 million a year in 2030 (compared to about 12 million today). UNICEF estimates that this number needs to fall almost 20 times faster to reach the goal of eliminating the practice by the end of the decade.
Marriage of convenience, marriage of crisis?
The UN agency also fears that the convergence of the Covid-19 pandemic, conflict and the growing impacts of climate change "will reverse hard-won progress."
Covid-19 could be responsible for an additional 10 million underage marriages between 2020 and 2030.
"The world is being overrun by crisis after crisis, destroying the hopes and dreams of vulnerable children, especially girls who should be students, not brides," commented UNICEF's Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement. Crises "that force families to seek a false sense of security" by marrying off their daughters.
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"Although child marriage is a clear violation of children's rights, it is often seen by families as a measure of 'protection' for girls, financially, socially and even physically," the report notes.
It is also a way to have one less mouth to feed. In this regard, progress has been most significant in the richest families.
Transcontinental trends
Geographically, South-East Asia is the driving force behind the decline in girls' marriages. However, the region still accounts for about 45% of the 640 million women married before the age of 18. India alone accounts for a third.
UNICEF is particularly concerned about the situation in sub-Saharan Africa, where girls are now most likely to be married before their 18th birthday. With population growth, the number of very young brides is expected to increase by 10% by 2030.
