January 27 / 2025 / Reading Time: 6 minutes
Child Marriage is costing Nigeria more than US$10 Billion a year
A landmark study has calculated that failure to address child marriage is costing Nigeria more than $10billion1 every year, and tens of thousands of lives.
The study by a team from Childlight Global Child Safety Institute is the first to estimate the economic burden of child marriage in Nigeria.
With 42% of Nigerian women2 reporting child marriage the research highlights the urgent need to overcome obstacles to ending the practice.
The findings have been welcomed by Nigerian charity the Child Solidarity Group who have called for a review of child rights legislation in the country.
Published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect the study calculates the severe economic and societal costs of marriage under the age of 18. Looking at the impact on girls, who are mainly affected by the practice, researchers found:
- In 2019 nearly 40,000 children under the age of 5 years died because their mothers were child brides.
- In the same year an estimated 3,489 girls died from pregnancy and childbirth resulting from child marriage.
- Child marriage decreases a girl’s likelihood of completing secondary or higher education by 23%.
- Earnings for women who married in childhood are 12% lower than they could have been without child marriage.
The study quantified the health and economic impact of child marriage by calculating the proportion of health problems attributable to child marriage. Disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to child marriage-related health outcomes were estimated, with one DALY equal to the value of the country’s average income. The impact of child marriage on girls’ education and future earnings were also included in the calculation.3
Through this process researchers estimate the aggregate economic burden of child marriage to Nigerian society as $10.87 billion annually, representing 2.43% of the country’s GDP.
The research included a nationally representative sample of approximately 42,000 Nigerian households from the 2018 Nigeria Demographic Health Survey (NDHS).
Calling for urgent action to end the practice Childlight’s Director of Data, Deborah Fry, who is a Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Child marriage is not only a violation of children’s rights but also a barrier to national development, perpetuating intergenerational cycles of poverty and inequality.
“Ending child marriage is an investment in the health and education of children across the country, which will unlock their potential and yield tremendous returns for Nigeria’s future.”
Child marriage is consistently linked to devastating outcomes including maternal mortality, miscarriage and stillbirth, as well as domestic violence, and poor educational outcomes such as dropping out of school and poor literacy.
Nigeria enacted the Child Rights Act in 2003 which bans marriage under the age of 18, however not all states in the country have adopted the act.
The research, which was funded by UNICEF’s Nigeria Country Office, provides critical evidence to guide policymakers in their efforts to end child marriage by 2030, a key target under the Sustainable Development Goals.
Commenting lead author Dr Xiangming Fang, who is Professor of Health Economics at China Agricultural University with a joint appointment at the school of public health at Georgia State University, said: “Despite child marriage still being commonplace in Nigeria little was known about the economic burden it places on the country. We hope our work in this study puts a spotlight on the staggeringly high price being paid for a practice that has no place in a world that respects the rights of children. A prosperous future for Nigeria hinges on ending child marriage.”
Nigerian based non-profit organisation The Child Solidarity Group, have welcomed the research saying it speaks to both the human and economic cost of child marriage.
Chief Executive and co-founder Emediong Akpabio believes future studies which capture the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic will show the economic burden has continued to rise. He said: “In those periods, the number of children in education emergencies grew from about 12.5 million to over 20 million; with more than 60% of girls dropping out of school and potentially putting them at risk of being married off as brides. In this period, the number of street children also increased to about 14 million, with girls who would be grappling for their livelihoods on the street.
“These vulnerabilities are also further complicated by the state of Nigeria’s institutional care system being overburdened by the demand for social protection, worsening the trend and crisis of child marriage.
“We urge the government to set a legislative process in motion to review the current Child Rights Act which was passed in 2003 and 20 years later, only managed to receive the domestication of 34 states. Reviewing this Act would allow for new legislative provisions capable of addressing emerging threats against children that are not only facilitated by harmful cultural practices but also technology.
“Re-thinking the educational system that gives not only opportunity to child marriage survivors to gain formal education, but having incentives to help their children complete school can potentially save Nigeria from billions of naira lost to this crisis.”
At the 1st Global Ministerial Conference on ending violence against children held in Colombia in November this year, the Nigerian government pledged to eliminate child marriage and female genital mutilation with the roll out a costed plan of action.
Contact Information
Jason Allardyce
jason.allardyce@ed.ac.uk
Notes to editors
- The cost in Naira is ₦3532 billion annually.
- Based on data from 2018 NDHS about 42% of Nigerian women aged 18-49 years reported being married or in a union before the age of 18.
- Population attributable fractions were calculated to determine the proportion of health consequences attributable to child marriage. Subsequently, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost due to child marriage-related health outcomes were estimated. DALY losses were monetised by assuming one DALY equals the country’s per-capita GDP. Additionally, the study investigated the impact of child marriage on girls’ educational attainment and its associated reduction in earnings. Find more on the methods used within the research
Unicef defines child marriage as being formally married or in an informal union before reaching the age of 18.
The eradication of child marriage is an integral component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), specifically SDG 5 which has set the target to eliminate child marriage by the year 2030.
The full paper in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect (2024) can be read by following this link: The economic burden of child marriage in Nigeria
Authors of the paper: Xiangming Fang, Deborah Fry, Jingru Ren, Wuwenhao Jin, Yuchen Zhu, Ibrahim Sesay, Hadiza Abba, Amandine Bollinger, Christine Wekerle.
Biographys:
Professor Deborah Fry is Childlight’s Director of Data, and a Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh. Professor Fry leads studies commissioned by UNICEF offices globally on understanding the nature and drivers of violence against children and using this data for evidence-based programming and policy changes. Professor Fry previously was Research Director at the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault.
Dr Xiangming Fang is a Professorial Data Fellow with Childlight Global Data Fellows. He is a Professor of Health Economics at the College of Economic Management, China Agricultural University. He also holds a joint appointment in the School of Public Health at Georgia State University. Prior to his current position, Dr Fang served as a Senior Health Economist with the Division of Violence Prevention at the US, CDC.
The Child Solidarity Group:
The Child Solidarity Group are a non-profit organisation working to advance the economic and social rights of children and women in underserved communities in Africa through policy engagement and community interventions. Find out more about them at www.childsolidarity.org
For media interviews with Child Solidarity Group contact: info@childsolidarity.org
Childlight is a global child safety data institute, hosted by the University of Edinburgh and established by the Human Dignity Foundation. Its vision is to utilise academic research expertise to better understand the nature and prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse to help inform policy responses to tackling it. Childlight also draws on decades of law enforcement experience at a senior level. Its multi-disciplinary approach ensures not only the production of high-quality data insights but enables Childlight to help authorities around the world turn data into action to pinpoint and arrest perpetrators and safeguard children. Childlight also offers the world’s first Masters of Science Degree in Child Protection Data Futures.