Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN NEPAL Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are high in Nepal. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 38.5 percent, but it has declined substantially over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has also declined.  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 Nepal. The brief is part of a series of standardized briefs on this How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Four in ten women in Nepal still marry early. but it will also have other negative consequences for her as well as for her children. The analysis is based on data from the 2011 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Nepal. This is Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of the latest DHS available. Table 1 provides basic statistics child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before on the age at first marriage for women. Two samples are 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry considered: women ages 18 to 22, which is the youngest very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but age group that can be used to measure child marriage in they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the the country1, and women ages 18-49 (the women’s practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can questionnaire in the DHS collects data for women up to be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and age 49). Clearly, a large share of women marry below the Wodon (2012). Three measures are used here: the age of 18, and many do so before the age of 15, but there incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child are some differences in the likelihood of marrying as marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. children between the two groups, suggesting that child Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. marriage has declined 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 38.2 12.0 marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls 18 or Above 23.3 37.5 who marry early, but also the mean number of years of Below 12 0.6 1.0 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the 12 0.8 1.3 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 13 2.0 3.6 14 5.2 9.4 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 15 9.2 12.1 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 16 10.1 11.8 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 17 10.7 11.4 average number of years of early marriage for girls who Total 100.0 100.0 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the Mean age at first marriage 16.8 17.4 square of that number, thereby putting even more Source: Authors’ estimation. emphasis on girls who marry very early and taking into account inequality in the age of marriage among girls The consequences of child marriage are not the same marrying early. whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from the poverty literature help in capturing better how early The incidence of child marriage in Nepal in 2011 was girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures lower than that observed 25 years ago. There has been a the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap reduction in how early girls marry, but the incidence is still (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into high. account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts even more weight on the girls who marry very early. Child marriage has been reduced over time. Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child measures of child marriage are also important. marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first the age group 18-22. In that age group almost four in ten The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, girls marry before the age of 18 (38.5 percent for the 18- education, and well-being is often larger when the girl 22 age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 5.4 marries very early. For example, child marriage is known percent and the squared gap (SG) at 1.0 percent for that to have a negative impact on school enrollment and group. By estimating the same measures on older groups, attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is the table provides the trend in child marriage over time. that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of When considering the 18 years threshold, there has been education attainment. This will not only limit her a substantial decline in the headcount. There has also employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, been a decline in other measures. This suggests that girls tend to marry less early when they marry as children. The fact that girls who marry early may marry less early is 1 confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years age Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the threshold. 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 Overall, the share of girls marrying as children has data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age decreased by 21 percentage points over the last 25 years bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  (the approximate time gap between the first and last age Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) group). The decline for extreme child marriage (15 years 18 years 15 years threshold) is smaller at 13 percentage points2. Despite H CMG SG H CMG SG great progress the incidence of child marriage is still high. All 18-22 years 38.5 5.4 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.1 Wealth quintiles Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) Poorest 53.6 8.2 1.6 14.1 1.7 0.3 18 years 15 years Poorer 49.1 6.7 1.2 9.7 0.9 0.1 H CMG SG H CMG SG Middle 47.9 6.7 1.2 10.4 1.0 0.1 Richer 32.0 4.6 0.9 7.9 0.9 0.1 All 18-49 years 50.6 7.9 1.6 15.3 1.6 0.2 Richest 14.5 1.9 0.4 2.3 0.3 0.1 Age group 18-22 years 38.5 5.4 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.1 Source: Authors’ estimation. 23-30 years 48.7 7.3 1.4 13.8 1.4 0.2 31-40 years 56.7 9.0 1.8 18.4 1.9 0.3 Child marriage is associated with lower education 41-49 years 59.4 10.1 2.2 21.3 2.6 0.4 attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. Source: Authors’ estimation. Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural education of the women, as well as literacy. Child areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. marriage affects education attainment negatively, because girls often drop out of school when they marry. Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to areas. There are also differences between regions, with pursue one’s education may help delay the age at the lowest measures observed in the Hills and the highest marriage. This relationship between education and child measures observed (according to the headcount index for marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of the 18 years threshold) in the Mountains. The ranking of child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower the regions in terms of the measures obtained with the 15 levels of education. The same relationship is observed and 18 years thresholds is the same. when considering literacy where three categories are considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part Rural girls are much more likely to marry early than urban of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. The relationship between child marriage and schooling is important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in 18 years 15 years H CMG SG H CMG SG school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. All 18-22 years 38.5 5.4 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.1 Region Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect Mountain 47.2 6.4 1.1 10.4 1.0 0.1 primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, Hill 33.7 4.8 0.9 7.7 0.9 0.1 and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Terai 41.0 5.8 1.1 8.9 1.0 0.1 education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent Residence Urban 22.9 3.2 0.6 5.4 0.6 0.1 girls from completing their primary education (primary Rural 41.2 5.8 1.1 9.1 1.0 0.1 school takes in principle six years to complete, but some Source: Authors’ estimation. students start primary school late and may also repeat grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). Household welfare is measured through a wealth index with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is that of the household in which they married, not their household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the quintile after marriage may not be that different from the quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and wealth may be lower than for older women. In Nepal, the measures of child marriage differ by quintile, but it is only in the top quintile of wealth that child marriage is much less prevalent. 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and Conclusion Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in H CMG SG H CMG SG Nepal. Measures of child marriage are high. The share of All 18-22 years 38.5 5.4 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.1 women ages 18-22 who married as children is 38.5 Education percent, but it has declined substantially over time. The No education 73.0 11.2 2.2 18.1 2.0 0.3 share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, Primary, some 59.9 9.7 2.0 19.4 2.4 0.4 has also declined. Child marriage is associated with lower Primary, compl. 55.3 8.5 1.7 20.4 2.1 0.3 wealth, lower education levels, and lower labor force Secondary, some 38.1 4.6 0.7 4.6 0.4 - Secondary, compl. 15.1 1.5 0.2 0.9 0.1 - participation. These are however only correlations, not Higher 3.9 0.5 0.1 0.8 0.1 - necessarily causal effects. Other briefs in this series look Literacy at potential causal effects. Cannot read 73.2 11.3 2.2 19.1 2.2 0.4 Limited ability 64.5 9.3 1.7 17.1 1.8 0.2 References Full sentence 28.3 3.7 0.7 5.4 0.6 0.1 Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Relationships between child marriage and labor force participation can be complex and depend on context. Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In Annex: Methodological Note some countries child marriage may reduce labor force participation through higher fertility. In others, if child The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who that the relationship between child marriage and labor marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall force participation is complex. In Nepal, child marriage population. Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z measures are higher for women not working, suggesting a the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a negative association between child marriage and work. In lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child addition, the type of work associated most with child marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures marriage is work often without cash earnings, which may depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the be work with low productivity. These basic statistics squared child marriage gap in the following expression: however do not imply causality.  1 q  z  yi  Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation P   z  n i1   Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years H CMG SG H CMG SG This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child All 18-22 years 38.5 5.4 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.1 Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research Working on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund No 41.1 5.6 1.0 8.5 0.9 0.2 Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the Yes 37.2 5.3 1.0 8.6 0.9 0.1 project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the Type of work work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, Not paid 39.8 5.5 1.0 8.3 0.8 0.1 earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global Cash only 22.2 3.7 0.8 5.7 0.8 0.1 Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and Cash and in-kind 62.0 9.9 2.2 22.4 2.7 0.4 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions In-kind only 60.8 8.6 1.5 17.8 1.3 0.1 expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries Source: Authors’ estimation. they represent. 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