Trends and correlates of girl-child marriage in 11 West African countries: evidence from recent Demographic and Health Surveys

Abstract

Background: West Africa historically has a high prevalence of girl-child marriage and requires substantial reduction to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) target of ending child marriage by 2030, but current data on progress is sparce. We aimed to determine the trend in child marriage in West Africa and assess the influence of selected socio-demographic factors. Methods: We analysed data on women aged 18-24 years from the two most recent Demographic and Health Surveys (conducted between 2006 and 2014) for 11 West African countries to determine the prevalence and trend of girl-child marriage. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to assess the relationship between girl-child marriage and selected socio-demographic factors. Results: The prevalence of child marriage in West Africa is 41.5%. An overall decrease of 4.6% (annual rate of 0.01%) was recorded over a seven-year inter-survey period. Three countries (Cote d’Ivoire, Nigeria, and Niger) recorded increased prevalence while the rate was unchanged in Burkina Faso, and the other six countries had reduced prevalence between the last two surveys. Sierra Leone recorded the highest decrease in prevalence (22%) and an annual reduction rate of 0.04%; Cote d’Ivore had the highest increase (65.3%). In virtually all countries, rural residence, low education, poor household economic status and non-Christian religious affiliation were significantly associated with higher odds of girl-child marriage. Conclusions: The prevalence of girl-child marriage remains high in West Africa and the trend shows very slow progress. While substantial inter-country variations exist in overall rate and trend of child marriage, the rate of progress is inadequate across all countries.

Prevalence and factors associated with child marriage, a systematic review

“…The trend of child marriage has been declining in most studies ( n = 12, 85.71%), with an exception of Iran, where the prevalence of child marriage increased from 10.27 to 11.21 in 2006–2016 (AARR = 0.87) [ 80 ] and China, where the prevalence of child marriage increased from 2.41 to 2.85 in 2000–2010 (AARR = 1.67) [ 85 ]. The highest decrease was observed in India in 2016–2006 (AARR = -3.63) [ 71 ] and the lowest decrease was in West Africa in 2014–2006 (AARR = -0.58) [ 83 ].…”

“…Living in rural areas, low education and poverty were the foremost factors affecting child marriage in these regions. In addition, in these countries, planning to reduce child marriage seems to be scarce and these countries fail to apply an accurate evaluation mechanism [ 83 ].…”

“…The systematic review included 32 prevalence articles [38-50, 52-70, 72], two theses [40,51] with data from 127,945 participants, Of these participants, 82,147 were married under the age of 18 and there were also14 trends articles [71,[73][74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82][83][84][85] (Fig. 1, Table 1).…”

“…More than 78.50% (n = 11) of the articles reported child marriage trends in Asia [71,73,74,[76][77][78][79][80][81][82]85]. Two articles were conducted in Africa (14.28%) [83,84] and one in the United States (7.14%) [75].…”