This is the economic cost of child marriage

Jun 1, 2018

Sanjay (R), 25, wears a turban as he sits beside his wife Jasoda, 16, during a mass marriage ceremony in Karachi November 12, 2011. A total of 80 couples from the Hindu community across Pakistan took wedding vows during the mass wedding ceremony organized by the Pakistan Hindu Council. Picture taken on November 12, 2011. REUTERS/Insiya Syed (PAKISTAN - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)

About one in five girls worldwide is married or in an informal union before they turn 18. Image: REUTERS/Insiya Syed (PAKISTAN - Tags: RELIGION SOCIETY)

Henrietta H. Fore

Director Emeritus, Chief Executives for Corporate Purpose (CECP)

Natalia Kanem

Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Mabel van Oranje

Chair, Girls Not Brides

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how India is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

India

Image: UNICEF

Have you read?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.