At 22 million, Bihar has the second highest number of child brides, i.e. girls and women who were first married or in union before age 18, in the country as per a 2019 UNICEF report[1]
One-fifth of the 100 districts in the country with highest prevalence of child marriage are in Bihar[2]
Currently, one in every five girls aged 15-19 years is a child bride in Bihar, as compared to one in 10 girls across the country[3]
As per the latest NHFSW data[4], 42% of the women aged 18-29 years report that their families married them before the legal marriageable age, 1.5 times of the national average of 27.9%
These rates of incidence[5] of child marriage for women (41.9%) are much higher than those of men in the state as only 27.2% men aged 21-29 years report to have been married before 21
With a primarily rural population, more than 90% of child brides of Bihar live in rural areas[6]. Additionally, women (18-29 years) report[7] a higher incidence of child marriage in rural areas (43.6%) as compared to urban areas (31%)
A higher prevalence of child marriage is reported amongst Scheduled Castes[8],[9]
5 districts with highest percentage of child brides at present (married girls of 15-19 age) are – Khagaria (34.4%), Jamui (31.5%), Gaya (31.4%), Madhepura (29.7%), Purba Champaran (29.6%)[10]
In Bihar, only half of the girls who married before age 18 complete secondary education, lowest amongst child brides for all states[11]; and a drop-out rate much higher than that of the overall population (33.7% across married and unmarried adolescent girls)[12]
12.2% adolescent girls, i.e. females aged 15-19 years in Bihar begin childbearing, a rate 50% higher than the national average of 7.9%[13]
Since the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006, there has been a steep decline in the proportion of adolescent being married before 18, with the rate dropping from 47.8% in 2005-06 to 19.7% in 2015-16[14]
Reports of child marriages amidst the covid-19 lockdown and economic slump are on the rise, especially amongst poorer and rural demographics[15],[16]
In order to meet the SDG target of eliminating child marriage by 2030, an annual reduction rate of 25% will be required[17]
[1] Feb 2019, UNICEF, Ending Child Marriage: A profile of progress in India (mentioned as UNICEF 2019 later), pp 7 https://www.unicef.org/india/media/1176/file/Ending-Child-Marriage.pdf
[2] 2018, Young Lives, India Child Marriage and Teenage Pregnancy (mentioned as Young Lives 2018 later), https://www.younglives.org.uk/sites/www.younglives.org.uk/files/India%20Report.pdf
[3] Young Lives (2018)
[4] 2015-16, International Institute for Population Sciences(IIPS), National Health and Family Welfare Survey (mentioned as NHFSW-4 later), Pp. 168, Table 6.2 http://rchiips.org/nfhs/NFHS-4Reports/India.pdf
[5] NHFSW-4, Pp. 168, Table 6.2
[6] Young Lives (2018)
[7] NHFSW-4, Pp. 168, Table 6.2
[8] Young Lives (2018)
[9] Census of India 2011
[10] Young Lives (2018)
[11] Young Lives (2018)
[12] Feb 2020, Indian Express, Telling Numbers: In primary and secondary schools, dropout rates highest in Assam https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/telling-numbers-in-primary-and-secondary-schools-dropout-rates-highest-in-assam-6253181/
[13] NHSFW-4, Pp. 100, Table 4.12
[14] Young Lives (2018)
[15] https://www.vice.com/en_in/article/dyzday/covid-19-lockdown-child-brides-india
[16] https://scroll.in/article/972629/in-indias-villages-some-desperate-parents-see-child-marriage-as-a-means-to-survive-the-pandemic
[17] UNICEF (2019), Pp. 21