Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are high in the Dominican Republic. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 34.6 percent and it has not decreased substantially over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has decreased.  Child marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and lower labor force participation. These are however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. In order to design programs and policies to reduce child Box 1: Brief and Series Primer marriage, information is needed on the trend in the How is child marriage defined? Child marriage is defined as a practice over time, where it is most prevalent in a country, marriage or union taking place before the age of 18. and what the characteristics of girls marrying early are. Why a series on child marriage? Child marriage has Measuring child marriage is needed to inform policy. significant negative impacts – not only for girls, but also for a range of development outcomes. Demonstrating these impacts Child marriage is recognized as a major development will assist governments and others to make the case for intervening to reduce the practice. issue that affects girls in many developing countries. The practice has been linked to a number of health risks, What are the topics discussed in the series? The series higher fertility, and lower education attainment, among looks at the impacts of child marriage on health, population, others. The negative impact of child marriage on a wide education, employment, agency, and violence, among other range of development outcomes explains why in many outcomes. The welfare, budget, and non-monetary costs of child countries child marriage is now prohibited by law, and marriage are estimated. Legal/institutional aspects and options why the elimination of child marriage is part of the new to reduce the practice are also discussed. Sustainable Development Goals. Yet more is needed to eliminate the practice than adopting laws. In order to What is the question asked in this brief? The question is: How widespread is the practice, not only in terms of the share of inform program and policies to reduce the practice, this girls marrying early, but also in terms of how early they marry? brief provides a basic profile of child marriage in the Dominican Republic. The brief is part of a series of How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of standardized briefs on this topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  More than a third of women in the Dominican education attainment. This will not only limit her Republic still marry early. employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, but it will also have other negative consequences for her The analysis is based on data from the 2013 as well as for her children. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for the Dominican Republic. This is the latest DHS available. Table 1 Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of provides basic statistics on the age at first marriage for child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before women. Two samples are considered: women ages 18 to 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry 22, which is the youngest age group that can be used to very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but measure child marriage in the country1, and women ages they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the 18-49 (the women’s questionnaire in the DHS collects practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can data for women up to age 49). Clearly, a large share of be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and women marry below the age of 18, and many do so Wodon (2012). Three measures are used here: the before the age of 15. There are some differences in the incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child likelihood of marrying as children between the two groups, marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. but the data suggests that child marriage may not have Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. decreased substantially over time, as discussed below. The measures are estimated for child marriage as well as very early marriage defined as marrying before age 15. Table 1: Age at First Marriage for Women (%) 18-22 years 18-49 years The child marriage gap represents the “depth” of child Not married 47.4 16.6 marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Age at first marriage who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 18 or Above 18.0 45.4 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the Below 12 0.5 1.1 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 12 1.1 1.7 13 4.0 4.1 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 14 4.2 6.1 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 15 7.8 7.6 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 16 9.4 9.1 average number of years of early marriage for girls who 17 7.7 8.3 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the Total 100.0 100.0 square of that number, thereby putting even more Mean age at 1st marriage 16.5 18.7 emphasis on girls who marry very early and taking into Source: Authors’ estimation. account inequality in the age of marriage among girls marrying early. The consequences of child marriage are not the same whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from The incidence of child marriage in the Dominican the poverty literature help in capturing better how early Republic in 2013 was similar to that observed 25 years girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures ago. There has not been a substantial reduction in how the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap early girls marry. (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts Child marriage has not decreased much over time. even more weight on the girls who marry very early. Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first measures of child marriage are also important. the age group 18-22. In that age group more than a third of girls marry before the age of 18 (34.6 percent for the The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, 18-22 age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 5.4 education, and well-being is often larger when the girl percent and the squared gap (SG) at 1.1 percent for that marries very early. For example, child marriage is known group. By estimating the same measures on older groups, to have a negative impact on school enrollment and the table provides the trend in child marriage over time. attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is When considering the 18 years threshold, there has been that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of virtually no decrease in the headcount, at least comparing the youngest and oldest age groups. However, there has 1 been a decrease in other measures, suggesting that girls Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the may marry less early when they marry early. survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure child marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide The fact that girls who marry early may marry less early is data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years age bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  threshold which suggest a decline in the headcount as Rural girls are much more likely to marry early than urban well as other measures for that age threshold. Still, girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are overall, the share of girls marrying as children has much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. decreased by only 0.6 percentage points over the last 25 years (the approximate time gap between the first and last Household welfare is measured through a wealth index age group). The decline for extreme child marriage (15 with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest years threshold) is higher at four percentage points2. to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) that of the household in which they married, not their 18 years 15 years household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry H CBG SG H CBG SG with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the All 18-49 years 38.0 6.2 1.3 13.0 1.6 0.3 quintile after marriage may not be that different from the Age group quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and 18-22 years 34.6 5.4 1.1 9.8 1.2 0.2 wealth may be lower than for older women. In the 23-30 years 40.7 7.0 1.6 15.3 2.0 0.4 Dominican Republic, the measures of child marriage differ 31-40 years 40.0 6.3 1.3 12.7 1.4 0.2 by quintiles, but it is only in the top quintiles of wealth that 41-49 years 35.2 6.0 1.3 13.6 1.7 0.3 child marriage is much less prevalent. Source: Authors’ estimation. Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural 18 years 15 years areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. H CBG SG H CBG SG All 18-22 years 34.6 5.4 1.1 9.8 1.2 0.2 Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban Wealth quintiles areas. There are also differences between regions (see Poorest 59.1 10.3 2.2 21.4 2.6 0.4 the footnote under the table for the definition of the Poorer 51.7 8.6 1.8 16.4 2.1 0.3 regions. The ranking of the regions in terms of the Middle 31.6 4.3 0.7 6.2 0.7 0.1 measures obtained with the 15 and 18 years thresholds Richer 23.5 3.2 0.6 4.8 0.6 0.1 tends to be similar. Richest 11.0 1.3 0.2 1.6 0.2 - Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years Child marriage is associated with lower education H CBG SG H CBG SG attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. All 18-22 years 34.6 5.4 1.1 9.8 1.2 0.2 Region Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of 0 30.7 4.7 0.9 8.6 1.0 0.1 education of the women, as well as literacy. Child I 35.1 5.8 1.2 12.0 1.4 0.2 marriage affects education attainment negatively, II 32.5 5.2 1.1 9.7 1.3 0.2 because girls often drop out of school when they marry. III 35.9 5.1 0.9 7.9 0.7 0.1 The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to IV 43.9 7.2 1.6 13.7 1.9 0.4 V 40.1 6.3 1.3 11.9 1.5 0.2 pursue one’s education may help delay the age at VI 37.8 6.1 1.3 12.6 1.6 0.3 marriage. This relationship between education and child VII 34.9 5.3 1.1 9.3 1.1 0.2 marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of VIII 43.2 6.3 1.2 8.3 0.9 0.2 child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower Residence levels of education. The same relationship is observed Urban 32.4 5.1 1.0 9.5 1.2 0.2 when considering literacy where three categories are Rural 41.2 6.2 1.2 10.6 1.2 0.2 considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part Source: Authors’ estimation. Region 0: National District, Santo of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. Domingo and Monte Plata; Region I: Peravia, San Cristóbal and San José de Ocoa; Region II: Santiago, Puerto Plata and Espaillat; Region III: Duarte, Samana, Maria Trinidad Sanchez The relationship between child marriage and schooling is and Hermanas Mirabal; Region IV: Independencia, Bahoruco, important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Barahona and Pedernales; Region V: La Altagracia, La marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Romana, El Seibo, San Pedro de Macoris and Hato Mayor; attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Region VI: Azua, San Juan and Elías Piña; Region VII: Dajabón, school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Monte Cristi, Santiago Rodriguez and Valverde; Region VIII: La Vega, Monseñor Nouel and Sanchez Ramirez. Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save girls from completing their primary education (primary space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. school takes in principle six years to complete, but some Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  students start primary school late and may also repeat Conclusion grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in the Dominican Republic. Measures of child marriage are Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and high. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) children is 34.6 percent, and it has not decreased 18 years 15 years substantially over time. The share of girls marrying very H CBG SG H CBG SG early, before the age of 15, has however declined. Child All 18-22 years 34.6 5.4 1.1 9.8 1.2 0.2 Education marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education No education 63.5 8.3 1.5 10.0 1.4 0.2 levels, and slightly lower labor force participation. These Primary, some 73.0 13.9 3.3 33.0 4.4 0.8 are however only correlations, not necessarily causal Primary, compl. 75.0 13.5 3.0 29.1 3.7 0.5 effects. Other briefs in this series look at potential causal Secondary, some 45.8 6.8 1.2 11.1 1.2 0.1 effects. Secondary, compl. 25.7 3.3 0.6 4.4 0.5 0.1 Higher 10.6 1.3 0.2 1.1 0.1 - References Literacy Cannot read 62.2 12.4 3.4 26.7 4.6 1.1 Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Limited ability 83.4 15.5 3.5 36.5 4.7 0.7 Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Full sentence 32.5 4.9 1.0 8.6 1.0 0.1 No card available 62.0 10.3 2.2 25.4 2.5 0.4 Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Relationships between child marriage and labor force Annex: Methodological Note participation can be complex and depend on context. The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT some countries child marriage may reduce labor force class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who participation through higher fertility. In others, if child marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall population. Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child that the relationship between child marriage and labor marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures force participation is complex. In the Dominican Republic, depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the child marriage measures are slightly higher for women not headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the working and for those working. However, the type of work squared child marriage gap in the following expression: associated most with child marriage is work with payment  1 q  z  yi  in part of in full in kind, which may be work with low productivity. These basic statistics however do not imply P   z  n i1   causality. This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research Status, Age 18-22 (%) on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & 18 years 15 years Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund H CBG SG H CBG SG Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the All 18-22 years 34.6 5.4 1.1 9.8 1.2 0.2 work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, Working earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global Not working 35.7 5.4 1.1 9.3 1.1 0.2 Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and Working 33.5 5.3 1.1 10.3 1.3 0.2 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions Type of work expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect Not paid 29.5 4.1 0.6 - - - the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries Cash only 32.9 5.0 1.0 9.5 1.1 0.1 they represent. Cash and in-kind 42.0 9.9 2.8 23.6 4.0 0.9 In-kind only 43.4 9.0 2.0 16.2 2.2 0.3 Source: Authors’ estimation. The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are a quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. For more information on this topic, go to: www.worldbank.org/health. Page 4