What define early marriage?

Early marriage or child marriage is defined as a marriage between two people in which one or both parties are younger than 18 years or a younger girl married to a far older person. There are approximately 700 million women around the world today who married as girls, one third of them married before the age of 15 years.

Many jurisdiction permits child marriage with parental consent or in a special arrangement such as teenage pregnancy. In many countries 18 years is the legal age set for marriage but many overrule it because of tradition and customs and poverty, child marriage violate the child right. It affects both girls and boys but more common with girls, child marriage has long term consequences which affect their health, education, and social development perspective. These consequences last beyond adolescence age; one of the commonest is deaths in pregnancy and childbirth for girls around the age of 15, and 19 years, in developing countries.