What five West African surveys recorded about early marriage

Nigeria’s two age thresholds moved down

The share first married or in union before 18 declined from 43.4% in 2018 to 33.4% in 2024. The share before 15 fell from 15.7% to 11.4%. In the 1990 observation, the corresponding shares had been 51.9% and 26.7%. Source 1 Source 2

Ghana recorded 16.1% before age 18 in 2022

Ghana’s under-18 share was 37.6% in 1993 and 20.7% in 2014. Its under-15 share was 3.3% in 2022. In Benin the 2022 readings were 27.5% before 18 and 5.9% before 15. Source 1 Source 2

The latest observations span four calendar years

Côte d’Ivoire recorded 25.8% before 18 in 2021, while Senegal recorded 30.2% in 2023. Their under-15 observations were 7.4% and 9.0%, respectively. Differences in survey timing matter because the estimates refer to different groups of young women. Source 1 Source 2

The measure asks young adults about a past event

UNICEF counts formal marriage and informal union in its standard measure. The denominator is women aged 20 to 24 at survey time. The result does not count the number of marriages that occurred in the survey year, and the under-15 group is included in the under-18 figure. Source 3

Sources

• World Bank, women aged 20 to 24 first married by age 18
• World Bank, women aged 20 to 24 first married by age 15
• UNICEF, child marriage measurement and survey sources
• World Bank economy metadata, capital coordinates