Economics guide global marriage age decisions

Subject

An overview of the success of policies on raising marriage ages.

Significance

Human rights campaigns against child marriage in developing countries have become ubiquitous in recent years. However, the global median age at first marriage has already risen significantly, especially for women, from 21.8 in the 1980, to 24.7 in 2000. Demographic trends show widespread delays in age at first marriage across Africa and Asia. Despite this global shift, the root causes of marriage trends in developing countries has been largely overlooked. Policy campaigns focus primarily on a rights-based discourse of girl empowerment, but the choice of marriage age is often determined collectively and in relation to considerations of a family's livelihood.

Impacts

• Delayed entry to marriage improves the health and well-being of women, including improved education rates, and delays in childbearing.
• Rising marriage age is correlated with fertility declines, which improves child survival and economic growth at the household level.
• Women who marry later are more productive members of the workforce, improving national economic indicators.
• The disconnect between demographics and policy discourse wastes aid resources and limits the impact of child marriage prevention campaigns.