Half of girls marry before the age of 18 in Mozambique

UNICEF estimates that 56% of girls in Nampula province, northern Mozambique, are married before reaching young adulthood and 18% before the age of 15, reiterating support against forced unions in the region.

According to a note from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which Lusa had access to this Tuesday, Mozambique has "one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world", in which, globally, 48% of girls marry before the age of 18.

“But in Nampula province, this number rises to 56% and, surprisingly, 18% marry before the age of 15,” he says.

Among girls without access to education, UNICEF estimates that 56% become pregnant as teenagers and 64% of those who only completed basic education were married as children.

"UNICEF works with partners to help the girls behind these statistics by investing in their education, engaging parents, community leaders, and communities to protect them from forced unions and violence, and connecting them to services that can help change these numbers," the document adds.

In August, the United Nations supported the granting of birth certificates to more than 16,000 people affected by recent cyclones in Nampula province to end child marriage in the region.

"Birth certificates play a fundamental role in protecting children from child marriage, providing legal proof of their age, and also in providing access to basic services such as education, health care, and social protection," Unicef ​​said in a statement.

Mozambique has the fourth highest teenage birth rate in the world for girls aged 15 to 19, according to a United Nations report that predicts the Mozambican population will double in 25 years.

According to the report “State of World Population 2025”, presented in Maputo in July by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the adolescent birth rate, from 2001 to 2024, reached 158 in every thousand Mozambican girls, only behind the Central African Republic (184), Equatorial Guinea (176) and Angola (163).

Furthermore, UNFPA highlights the high rate of premature unions, which affect almost half of girls (48%) who give birth for the first time before the age of 18.