Poverty is one of the main drivers of child marriage. Child brides are more likely to be poor and to remain poor.
Where poverty is acute, giving a daughter in marriage allows parents to reduce family expenses by ensuring they have one less person to feed, clothe and educate. In communities where economic transactions are integral to the marriage process, a dowry or ‘bride price’ is often welcome income for poor families.
Child marriage traps girls and their families in a cycle of poverty. Girls who marry young do not receive the educational and economic opportunities that help lift them and their families out of poverty and their children are more likely to undergo the same fate.
End child marriage & accelerate efforts to achieve a safe, healthy and prosperous future for girls
But this cycle of poverty does not have to be inevitable. If a girl does not marry early and stays in school, she is likely to be healthier and wealthier – and to reinvest her income into her family. For every year a girl stays in secondary school, her eventual wages will be boosted by 15 to 25 percent. When she earns an income, she reinvests on average 90 percent of it into her family, compared to only 30 to 40 percent among men.
Ending child marriage will accelerate efforts to achieve a safe, healthy and prosperous future for girls around the world.