Southern Asia
India
Absolute number
Prevalence
Married by 15: Number of girls and women (left) and percentage of women 20-24 years (right) married before age 15
Married by 18: Number of girls and women (left) and percentage of women 20-24 years (right) married before age 18
Prevalence of child marriage
- India
- Southern Asia
The line chart shows the prevalence of child marriage (before age 18) in India and Southern Asia from 1996 to 2025.
In India, 53% of girls in 1996 married before age 18, compared with 23% in 2021, which is the latest available value.
In Southern Asia, the prevalence was 52% in 2000 and was 25% in 2025.
Show data table
| Year | India | Southern Asia |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 53.2% | |
| 2000 | 52.0% | |
| 2001 | 48.8% | |
| 2005 | 48.8% | |
| 2006 | 45.7% | |
| 2010 | 45.2% | |
| 2011 | 38.0% | |
| 2015 | 38.1% | |
| 2016 | 29.5% | |
| 2020 | 31.2% | |
| 2021 | 23.3% | |
| 2025 | 25.2% |
India
Child Marriage
Prevalence
Residence
- Rural
- Urban
Wealth
- Poorest
- Second
- Middle
- Fourth
- Richest
Education
- No schooling
- Primary education
- Secondary or higher
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Understand differences inside the country
Touch the timeline to see how the child marriage affect differently each sub-region of India in the last decades.
Levels of child marriage vary across different parts of India. See the range of values within the country, and explore the chart for details.
Prevalence of child marriage
Compare regions of India
Understand differences
inside the country
Prevalence of child marriage before age 18 years in each region of India in 2021.
Region with no data
2021
Prevalence of child marriage in each region of India in 2021
The chart shows the prevalence of child marriage (before age 18) across India. Data refer to 2021, the latest year with available data.
The practice is most common in West Bengal (42%), Bihar (41%), Tripura (40%), and Jharkhand (32%).
Show data table
| Year | Andaman & Nicobar Islands | Andhra Pradesh | Arunachal Pradesh | Assam | Bihar | Chandigarh | Chhattisgarh | Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu | Goa | Gujarat | Haryana | Himachal Pradesh | Jammu & Kashmir | Jharkhand | Karnataka | Kerala | Ladakh | Lakshadweep | Madhya Pradesh | Maharashtra | Manipur | Meghalaya | Mizoram | Nagaland | NCT of Delhi | Odisha | Puducherry | Punjab | Rajasthan | Sikkim | Tamil Nadu | Telangana | Tripura | Uttar Pradesh | Uttarakhand | West Bengal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16.2% | 29.3% | 18.9% | 31.8% | 40.8% | 9.7% | 12.0% | 26.4% | 5.8% | 21.8% | 12.5% | 5.4% | 4.5% | 32.2% | 21.2% | 6.3% | 2.5% | 1.3% | 23.1% | 21.9% | 16.3% | 16.9% | 7.9% | 5.6% | 9.9% | 20.5% | 6.5% | 8.7% | 25.4% | 10.7% | 12.8% | 23.5% | 40.1% | 15.8% | 9.8% | 41.6% |
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How does India compare to other countries?
Prevalence of child marriage
- India
The line chart shows the prevalence of child marriage (before age 18) in India from 1996 to 2021.
In India, 53% of girls in 1996 married before age 18, compared with 23% in 2021, which is the latest available value.
Residence
Child marriage prevalence
Review the data to find if girls living in rural areas are more likely to marry in childhood than girls in urban areas
The bubble chart shows the prevalence of child marriage (before age 18) disaggregated by residence in India. Data refer to the latest available year.
In India, 23% of girls married before age 18. The prevalence is 27% of girls in rural areas, compared with 15% in urban areas.
For more data related to child marriage, please see the child marriage country profiles available on the UNICEF Data website
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Where does child marriage occur?
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