Ending child marriage in Africa

All African countries are faced with the challenge of child marriage, a harmful traditional practice that robs girls of their education, their health and their future.

In Africa, high rates of child marriage combined with a rapidly growing population could have devastating human and development consequences. If we don’t act now, the number of girls married as children will double by 2050 and Africa will become the region with the highest number of child brides in the world.

This brief by Girls Not Brides looks at child marriage across Africa - its scope, causes and impact - and presents some of the initiatives led by civil society, governments or regional institutions to end the practice.

It makes a number of recommendations to African governments, the African Union and other regional bodies to address child marriage in a comprehensive and integrated way.