UN children’s agency, UNICEF has said it’s latest study shows an estimated 115 million boys and men worldwide were married as children.
But on a larger scale, Unicef estimates some 765 million child brides and child grooms worldwide.
The study which was made public on Friday shows that 23 million of these men and boys got married before the age of 15.
This is the first ever in-depth study of child grooms with highest numbers coming from Africa.
The Central African Republic ranked high in terms of highest prevalence of child marriage among males.
The war-torn country has 28 percent of men and boys married of as children. Nicaragua came second at 19 percent and Madagascar again from Africa came third at 13 percent.
UNICEF studied data from 82 countries with worrying trend of boys being married of at high rates around the world.
The phenomenon is prevalent in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, South Asia and East Asia, and the Pacific.
Unicef executive director Henrietta Fore said “Child grooms are forced to take on adult responsibilities for which they may not be ready”
She adds that “Early marriage brings early fatherhood, and with it added pressure to provide for a family, cutting short education and job opportunities.”
But the phenomenon of child marriage is still prevalent among girls globally.
Unicef says one in five young women between the ages of 20 and 24 gets married of before her 18th birthday.
That is relatively high compared to one in 30 young men globally.
Source: Africafeeds.com
