30% adolescent girls married in India: UNICEF

A UNICEF report titled Progress for Children, 30 % of all adolescent girls in India were married and at least 22 % became mothers before attaining adulthood.

The report by UNICEF, based on a survey conducted in the period 2000-2010, says in comparison only 5% of male adolescents were married.

Released globally on Thursday, the report also says 47 per cent women who are 20-24 years old, were married before they were 18 years old, and 18 per cent of women aged 20-24 years were married or were in union before they were 15 years old.

About eight per cent of female adolescents aged 15-19 had sex before the age of 15, as compared to only three per cent for male adolescents.


Shockingly, the report suggests that between 2002 and 2010, as many as 57 per cent male adolescents aged  15-19 thought a husband is justified in beating his wife under certain circumstances. So do 53 per cent of female adolescents.

On the justification of wife beating, the report also mentions that 54 per cent of women aged 15-49 years consider a husband to be justified in hitting or beating his wife for at least one of the specified reasons — if his wife burns the food, argues with him, goes out without telling him, neglects the children, or refuses sexual relations. The UNICEF report also states that 12 per cent of males and females in the country between 2000 and 2010 were involved in child labour.