Nearly 45 per cent of women in India were married off before they turned 18, according to the latest National Family Health Survey.
NEW DELHI: Nearly 45 per cent of women in India were married off before they turned 18, according to a latest government survey.
The National Family Health Survey III, carried out in 29 states during 2005-06, also shows that in eight states the figure is as high as 50 per cent.
"What is alarming is that majority of women are getting married before attaining the legal age of marriage," said Kamla Gupta, Chief Coordinator of NFHS III.
"We have a law in this regard. But despite the law, the survey shows that in several states a high proportion of girls are getting married before 18 years," she said from Mumbai.
The survey of women aged between 20 and 24 years showed that the worst situation is in Jharkhand and Bihar.
While 61 per cent women in Jharkhand were married off before 18, in Bihar it was 60 per cent. Similarly in Bihar 57 per cent women were married off before attaining 18, the number stood at 55 per cent in Rajasthan.
In Andhra Pradesh, the figure was 55 per cent, while in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, it was 53 per cent each, followed by 52 per cent in Chhattisgarh.
Gupta said this could be one of the reason behind infant and maternal mortality.
"Early marriage impacts a woman's health and education. It shows that women is getting married early and giving birth also at an early age. It directly impacts her and her child's health. This is how we see so many infant mortalities because the woman's body is not ready," she said, adding lack of education was a major reason behind the trend.
The NFHS III, in which 1,24,395 women were interviewed, has also shown another alarming trend in six states, Arunachal Pradesh, Punjab, Mizoram, Sikkim, Tripura and West Bengal, there is an upward trend of under 18 marriages as compared to a lower percentage during the NFHS II survey in 1998-99.
While it is 41 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 19.4 per cent in Punjab, 20.6 per cent in Mizoram, 30.1 in Sikkim, 41.0 in Tripura and 53.3 in West Bengal.
In the earlier survey, the figures were 28 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh, 11.6 in Punjab, 11.6 in Mizoram, 22.3 in Sikkim, 37.7 in Tripura and 45.9 per cent in West Bengal.
It is only in Goa and Himachal Pradesh, the prevalence is as low as 12 per cent, while in Manipur, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala and Punjab, it is less than 20 per cent, it said.
The survey, conducted jointly by 18 research bodies to indicate information on population, family planning, maternal and child health, nutrition of children and status of women, showed that the prevalence is mostly common to rural India.
While 52.5 per cent of the cases of under 18 marriages were found to be in rural areas, the number stood at 28.1 per cent in urban areas. Over 71 per cent of women who got married below 18 years had received no education.
The survey has also said that over 56.2 per cent married women in the age group between 15 and 49 were anaemic in 2006 as against 51.8 per cent in 1999.
It said that 79.1 per cent of children between three to six years were anaemic in 2006 as against 74.2 per cent in 1999.
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