Abolition Of Child Marriage In India Will Take 50 Years: UNICEF

KOLKATA: India has witnessed a decline in child marriage in the last two decades, but going by the slow pace it will require another 50 years to abolish the practice from the country, according to UNICEF.

"Child marriage has been declining at a rate of one percent per year in the last two decades, but at this rate it will be eliminated in 50 years or so," UNICEF Child Protection Specialist in India Dora Giusti told PTI.

"This is way too long and millions of girls will have married by then," she warned describing the scenario in the country as "alarming".

"A study among married women currently aged between 20-24 revealed that 43 percent of them were married before 18 and two out of every five women during the survey said they were married as children," Giusti explained.

Incidentally, a United Nations report in July said that India has sixth highest prevalence of child marriage, with one in every three child brides living in the country.

Stressing that the practice of child marriage was still prevalent in certain communities and groups in the country, the UNICEF official held deep-rooted superstitious beliefs as responsible for its slow elimination.