‘25% of women in 18-29 year group married off as minors’

‘25% of women in 18-29 year group married off as minors'

‘25% of women in 18-29 year group married off as minors’

New Delhi : At a time when the government is contemplating raising the legal age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21 to bring it on par with males, the National Family Health Survey 5 has thrown light on the reality of early marriages.

The report says one in four girls aged 18 to 29 years and 15 per cent men aged 21 to 29 years marry before the legal ages of 18 and 21 years, respectively.

The highest proportion of early marriages for girls is in West Bengal (42 per cent), followed by 40 per cent in Bihar, 39 per cent in Tripura, nearly 35 per cent in Jharkhand and 33 per cent in Andhra Pradesh. In Assam, 31 per cent girls married before 18 years; proportion was 28 per cent in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, 27 per cent in Telangana, 25 per cent each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The lowest percentage of women marrying early was in Lakshadweep at 4 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh 6 per cent each; HP, Goa, and Nagaland (7 per cent each) and Kerala and Puducherry (8 per cent each).