Although 90% of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have enacted laws to limit child marriage, an estimated two out of every five girls in the region still marry before reaching age 18. New research indicates that child marriage is considerably less common in countries with laws that consistently bar the practice, according to "Minimum Marriage Age Laws and the Prevalence of Child Marriage and Adolescent Birth: Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa," by Belinda Maswikwa of McGill University, et al.

The study, published in International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health and now available online, analyzed data from 12 Sub-Saharan African countries. Researchers found that, in countries with consistent laws against child marriage —which set 18 years as the minimum legal age for both marriage and sexual consent, with no exception for parental permission—child marriage was 40% lower than in countries with inconsistent laws. Women in countries with consistent child marriage laws also reported 25% fewer adolescent births than women in the other countries.

Four countries in the study had consistent laws against child marriage—Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Uganda—and eight countries had inconsistent laws: Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Malawi, Mozambique, Senegal, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. In Gabon and Tanzania, for example, the minimum legal age of marriage with parental consent (15 years) is lower than the legal age of sexual consent (18).

Other research has demonstrated that adolescent mothers are more likely to suffer a range of negative health outcomes, from obstructed labor to tearing of the birth canal. In addition, girls who marry before age 18 often have limited knowledge about contraception, and they often face social pressure to prove their fertility soon after marriage. The Maswikwa study found that, across 12 Sub-Saharan African countries, the vast majority (83%) of women who married as children also gave birth before reaching age 20—more than five times the percentage among women who married at age 18 or older (15%).

On average, women in countries with inconsistent child marriage laws had a higher prevalence of child marriage (33%) and adolescent childbearing (40%) than women who lived in other countries (22% and 24%, respectively). The study highlights some of the challenges to curbing child marriage in places where minimum-age laws related to marital and sexual consent contradict each other.

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have legal exceptions or customary or religious laws that contradict national statutes or international human rights agreements. All African Union member countries have signed the 1990 African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, which calls for action to end child marriage and set the minimum age for marriage at 18. Although the majority of Sub-Saharan African countries are bound to these goals in principle, some may lack the political will to achieve them in practice. As the study’s authors note, "child marriage has been practiced for generations and is still seen as a culturally legitimate way of protecting girls from premarital sex and any potentially dishonorable consequences."

The findings of this study suggest that consistent laws against child marriage are crucial to ending the practice and its harmful health effects. The researchers also point out that educating communities about these laws is an important step toward enforcing them.

Also in this issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health :

"Quality of Care and Contraceptive Use in Urban Kenya," by Katherine Tumlinson, Brian W. Pence, Siân L. Curtis, Stephen W. Marshall and Ilene S. Speizer

"Is Unwanted Birth Associated with Child Malnutrition in Bangladesh?," by Md. Mosfequr Rahman

"Dynamic Relationships Between Parental Monitoring, Peer Risk Involvement and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Bahamian Mid-Adolescents," by Bo Wang, Bonita Stanton, Lynette Deveaux, Xiaoming Li and Sonja Lunn

"Sexual Pleasure, Partner Dynamics and Contraceptive Use in Malawi," by Neetu A. John, Stella Babalola and Effie Chipeta