A third of women married in India in 2018 were 18-20 years old, shows data

West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar were worst in terms of women marrying at an early age

On Wednesday, the cabinet cleared a proposal to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21. The Prime Minister, from the ramparts of Red Fort, last year had announced that the government had formed a committee to deliberate on issues of malnutrition and assured that a decision on marriage would be taken soon.

The cabinet clearance is yet to be implemented as law. But once it takes effect and is implemented, it would push the effective marriage of nearly a third of women who are married each year. As per the 2018 SRS data, while the effective marriage age was over 21 for 64.5 per cent women, 33.2 per cent were married between the age of 18-20. In rural areas, 37.4 per cent were married between the age of 18 and 20, whereas the ratio was 23.2 per cent in urban areas.

Moreover, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Rajasthan were the worst in terms of effective marriage age. In West Bengal, 47.2 per cent of the women were married between the ages of 18-20; the corresponding ratios for Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan were 42.4 per cent and 37.5 per cent, respectively. West Bengal was the only state where the likelihood of a woman getting married before 21 was higher.

West Bengal, Rajasthan and Bihar were the worst performers in child marriages. Although the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act had outlawed marriage for girls below 18 years of age, SRS data shows that 2.3 per cent of those married during the survey’s reference period were below 18. In West Bengal, 3.7 per cent of those married were below 18 years of age, whereas in Rajasthan and Bihar, the ratios were 3.5 per cent and 3.2 per cent, respectively.

The mean age at marriage, as per SRS data, was 22.3 for women across the country, with West Bengal being the only state where the mean age of marriage was lower than 21.

In 2012, the average age of marriage was 21.2 for women and 43.8 per cent of women were married in the age group of 18-20 in that year.

An increase in marriage age is expected to increase the number of women graduating from college. A recent Business Standard analysis had found that households with college-educated women were more likely to have better nutrition and better access to government services.

There are 61.7 million women in the 18-20 age group.