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Women first married before the age of 15

What share of women aged 20 to 24 were first married or in union before they were 15?

138 of 138 shown in the list

% of women aged 20 to 24 first married before 15

  1. Niger28.0% 2012
  2. Central African Republic25.8% 2019
  3. Chad24.2% 2019
  4. Guinea17.0% 2018
  5. Mauritania15.5% 2021
  6. Mali14.4% 2024
  7. Ethiopia14.1% 2016
  8. Bangladesh13.4% 2025
  9. Eritrea12.9% 2010
  10. Mozambique12.9% 2023
  11. Madagascar12.7% 2021
  12. Sudan11.9% 2014
  13. Nigeria11.4% 2024
  14. Cameroon10.7% 2018
  15. Nicaragua9.7% 2012
  16. Afghanistan9.6% 2023
  17. Dominican Republic9.4% 2019
  18. Honduras9.2% 2019
  19. Senegal9.0% 2023
  20. South Sudan8.9% 2010
  21. Suriname8.8% 2018
  22. Equatorial Guinea8.6% 2011
  23. Sierra Leone8.6% 2019
  24. Guinea-Bissau8.1% 2019
  25. Papua New Guinea8.0% 2018

Source: UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, Women who were first married by age 15 (% of women ages 20-24), via the World Bank. Data for 2010 to 2025. What it counts, how to cite it and the data

At a glance

  • 138 countries or territories have a figure.
  • The highest is Niger at 28.0% (2012) and the lowest is Algeria at 0.0% (2019).
  • The middle value (the median) is 2.4%.

What it counts

The percentage of women aged 20 to 24 who were first married or in a union before age 15, from household surveys compiled by UNICEF.

What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison

As for marriage before 18: the figure counts marriages and unions whatever the law says, the survey year differs by country and not every country has a survey.

Source

UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program: Women who were first married by age 15 (% of women ages 20-24), via the World Bank, compiled in World Bank, World Development Indicators. Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.

Cite this chart

Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.

Reference (APA style)

TheLawToKnow. (2026). Women first married before the age of 15 [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/marriage-before-15. Data: UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, Women who were first married by age 15 (% of women ages 20-24), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.M15.2024.FE.ZS (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).

Short credit for slides and websites

Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/marriage-before-15). Data: UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, via World Bank, World Development Indicators.

BibTeX

@misc{marriagebefore152026,
  author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
  title = {Women first married before the age of 15},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Law in Charts},
  url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/marriage-before-15},
  note = {Data: UNICEF and the Demographic and Health Surveys Program, Women who were first married by age 15 (% of women ages 20-24), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.M15.2024.FE.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
}

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