Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN INDONESIA Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage remain substantial in Indonesia. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 16.2 percent, but it has declined dramatically 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 Indonesia. The brief is part of a series of standardized How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of briefs on this topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  One in six women in Indonesia 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 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Indonesia. Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of This is the latest DHS available. Table 1 provides basic child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before statistics on the age at first marriage for women. Two 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry samples are considered: women ages 18 to 22, which is very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but the youngest age group that can be used to measure they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the child marriage in the country1, and women ages 18-49 practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can (the women’s questionnaire in the DHS collects data for be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and women up to age 49). Clearly, a large share of women Wodon (2012). Three measures are used here: the marry below the age of 18, and many do so before the incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child age of 15, but there are differences in the likelihood of marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. marrying as children between the two groups. This Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. suggests that child marriage has decreased over time. 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 57.6 14.1 18 or Above 26.1 59.2 marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Below 12 0.2 1.4 who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 12 0.2 1.1 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the 13 0.6 1.9 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 14 1.2 3.1 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 15 2.8 5.0 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 16 4.2 6.3 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 17 7.2 7.9 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 17.9 19.9 Source: Authors’ estimation. square of that number, thereby putting even more 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 girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures The incidence of child marriage in Indonesia in 2012 was the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap much lower than that observed 25 years ago. There has (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into been a reduction in how early girls marry. 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 one in six girls The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, marry before the age of 18 (16.2 percent for the 18-22 education, and well-being is often larger when the girl age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 1.9 marries very early. For example, child marriage is known percent and the squared gap (SG) at 0.3 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 large decline in the headcount and in other measures. employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, Girls who marry early also marry less early, as shown in measures based on the 15 years age threshold which suggest a decline in the headcount for those measures. 1 Overall, the share of girls marrying as children decreased Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the by 23 percentage points over the last 25 years (the survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure approximate time gap between the first and last age child marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide group), and the decline for extreme child marriage (15 data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  years threshold) is at 12 percentage points, but even Rural girls are much more likely to marry early than urban more dramatic in percentage terms2. girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) 18 years 15 years H CMG SG H CMG SG Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban All 18-49 years 26.7 4.2 0.93 7.5 1.1 0.24 areas. There are also differences between regions, as Age group shown in table 3. As for socio-economics, household 18-22 years 16.2 1.9 0.29 2.1 0.2 0.03 welfare is measured through a wealth index with 23-30 years 20.3 2.8 0.53 4.5 0.5 0.09 households categorized in five quintiles from poorest to 31-40 years 27.3 4.1 0.90 7.3 1.1 0.22 richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is 41-49 years 39.4 7.1 1.78 14.5 2.4 0.55 that of the household in which they married, not their Source: Authors’ estimation. household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural quintile after marriage may not be that different from the areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and wealth may be lower than for older women. In Indonesia, Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) the measures of child marriage differ by quintile, but it is 18 years 15 years only in the top two quintiles of wealth, and especially in H CMG SG H CMG SG the top quintile, that child marriage is much less prevalent. All 18-22 years 16.2 1.86 0.29 2.1 0.23 0.03 Region Aceh 7.1 0.68 0.08 - - - Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) North Sumatera 8.0 0.85 0.12 1.1 0.07 - 18 years 15 years West Sumatera 6.5 0.80 0.14 1.4 0.14 0.02 H CMG SG H CMG SG Riau 8.4 0.86 0.12 0.6 0.08 0.01 All 18-22 years 16.2 1.86 0.29 2.1 0.23 0.03 Jambi 30.9 4.34 0.82 8.5 0.91 0.12 Wealth quintiles South Sumatera 23.6 3.07 0.51 4.2 0.42 0.05 Poorest 34.4 4.54 0.81 7.3 0.80 0.11 Bengkulu 18.4 1.78 0.21 0.8 0.05 - Poorer 21.1 2.47 0.41 2.9 0.35 0.06 Lampung 14.2 1.57 0.25 2.8 0.26 0.03 Middle 16.1 1.59 0.21 1.1 0.11 0.02 Bangka Belitung 23.6 2.98 0.59 4.0 0.66 0.16 Richer 11.4 1.08 0.13 0.1 0.01 - Riau Islands 10.8 0.95 0.11 0.4 0.03 - Richest 3.6 0.37 0.05 0.2 0.02 - Jakarta 4.9 0.53 0.08 0.3 0.06 0.01 Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. West Java 17.1 1.72 0.22 1.0 0.09 0.01 Central Java 9.3 0.88 0.10 - - - Child marriage is associated with lower education Yogyakarta 7.2 0.69 0.09 0.5 0.03 - attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. East Java 20.8 2.47 0.42 3.5 0.37 0.05 Banten 14.6 1.42 0.17 0.5 0.05 0.01 Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of Bali 10.6 0.98 0.12 0.7 0.05 - education of the women, as well as literacy. Child W. Nusa Tenggara 23.3 2.40 0.33 2.2 0.18 0.02 East Nusa Tenggara 12.0 1.33 0.22 1.0 0.18 0.04 marriage affects education attainment negatively, West Kalimantan 29.6 3.72 0.63 4.2 0.50 0.08 because girls often drop out of school when they marry. Central Kalimantan 33.6 4.11 0.67 5.5 0.55 0.06 The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to South Kalimantan 25.4 3.20 0.55 4.8 0.51 0.06 pursue one’s education may help delay the age at East Kalimantan 15.6 1.60 0.23 1.0 0.17 0.03 marriage. This relationship between education and child North Sulawesi 21.7 2.24 0.30 2.0 0.18 0.02 marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of Central Sulawesi 31.9 3.77 0.57 4.7 0.41 0.04 child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower South Sulawesi 21.5 3.09 0.62 4.3 0.68 0.13 levels of education. The same relationship is observed Southeast Sulawesi 20.4 2.31 0.34 1.8 0.17 0.02 when considering literacy where three categories are Gorontalo 20.7 2.66 0.46 4.8 0.50 0.06 West Sulawesi 33.0 4.79 0.96 8.5 1.07 0.18 considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part Maluku 13.5 1.71 0.32 2.7 0.35 0.06 of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. North Maluku 18.3 2.91 0.67 5.9 0.83 0.18 West Papua 32.1 5.17 1.28 8.0 1.70 0.41 The relationship between child marriage and schooling is Papua 39.2 6.27 1.30 12.9 1.53 0.22 important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Residence marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Urban 8.9 0.93 0.13 0.8 0.08 0.01 Rural 25.9 3.08 0.51 3.7 0.42 0.06 attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent Conclusion girls from completing their primary education (primary school takes in principle six years to complete, but some This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in students start primary school late and may also repeat Indonesia. The share of women ages 18-22 who married grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). as children is 16.2 percent. It has declined substantially over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and the age of 15, has also declined. Child marriage is Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and 18 years 15 years lower labor force participation. These are however only H CMG SG H CMG SG correlations, not necessarily causal effects. Other briefs in All 18-22 years 16.2 1.86 0.29 2.1 0.23 0.03 this series look at potential causal effects. Education No education 36.2 6.48 1.38 15.1 1.63 0.21 References Primary, some 41.8 6.85 1.56 15.4 2.06 0.37 Primary, compl. 40.9 4.86 0.78 6.4 0.62 0.07 Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Secondary, some 27.3 2.83 0.38 1.5 0.16 0.02 Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Secondary, compl. 4.4 0.39 0.05 0.3 0.04 0.01 Higher 0.8 0.07 0.01 - - - Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Literacy Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Cannot read 42.8 8.14 2.01 19.3 2.78 0.52 Limited ability 43.9 6.42 1.33 13.9 1.65 0.27 Annex: Methodological Note Full sentence 15.2 1.65 0.24 1.5 0.15 0.02 Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT Relationships between child marriage and labor force class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who participation can be complex and depend on context. 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 Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a some countries child marriage may reduce labor force lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child participation through higher fertility. In others, if child marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so squared child marriage gap in the following expression: that the relationship between child marriage and labor force participation is complex. In Indonesia, child marriage  1 q  z  yi  measures are higher for women not working, suggesting a P    negative association between child marriage and work. In n i1  z   addition, the type of work associated most with child marriage is work without cash earnings (in-kind only), which may be work with low productivity. These basic This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child statistics however do not imply causality. Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the Status, Age 18-22 (%) project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the 18 years 15 years work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global H CMG SG H CMG SG Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and All 18-22 years 16.2 1.86 0.29 2.1 0.23 0.03 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions Working expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect No 19.0 2.08 0.32 2.0 0.23 0.04 the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries Yes 13.9 1.66 0.27 2.1 0.22 0.03 they represent. Type of work Not paid 32.7 4.24 0.72 5.9 0.62 0.08 Cash only 9.1 1.02 0.16 1.1 0. 3 0.02 Cash and in-kind 5.6 0.77 0.12 1.1 0.07 - In-kind only 63.0 7.54 1.02 3.5 0.24 0.02 Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. 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. 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