Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 6 of 6
Full-Text Articles in Entire DC Network
Child Marriage Briefing: Mali, Population Council
Child Marriage Briefing: Mali, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This brief provides an overview of child marriage as well as the particulars of child marriage in Mali. Mali is home to 11.6 million people, with 47 percent of its population under age 15. Approximately 73 percent of the population live on less than US$1 a day, and life expectancy is 45 years. Mali has one of the most severe crises of child marriage in the world today. The legal age of marriage is 18 for girls and 21 for boys, but girls may be married as early as age 15 with parental consent. For civil marriages, the law dictates …
Child Marriage Briefing: Mozambique, Population Council
Child Marriage Briefing: Mozambique, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This brief provides an overview of child marriage as well as the particulars of child marriage in Mozambique. Mozambique, in southeastern Africa, is home to 17.5 million people, with 45 percent of its population under age 15. More than three-quarters of Mozambicans live on less than US$2 a day. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a devastating effect on the country; approximately 1.3 million adults and children are living with HIV, and 470,000 children have been orphaned because of AIDS. Life expectancy has fallen to 34 years, among the lowest levels in the world. Mozambique has one of the most severe …
Child Marriage Briefing: Zambia, Population Council
Child Marriage Briefing: Zambia, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This brief provides an overview of child marriage as well as the particulars of child marriage in Zambia. This landlocked southern African nation is home to 10.9 million people, with 47 percent of its population under age 15. Zambia is one of the poorest countries in the world; nearly two out of three Zambians live on less than US$1 a day. The country’s economic growth was hindered by declining copper prices and a prolonged drought in the 1980s and 1990s. More recently, the AIDS epidemic has taken a devastating toll: 920,000 adults and children are living with HIV/AIDS, and 630,000 …
Child Marriage Briefing: Ethiopia, Population Council
Child Marriage Briefing: Ethiopia, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This brief provides an overview of child marriage as well as the particulars of child marriage in Ethiopia. This landlocked East African nation is home to more than 70 million people, with 44 percent of its population under age 15. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world; approximately 81 percent of its population live on less than US$2 a day. Life expectancy has fallen to 42 years, owing to recurrent food shortages, ongoing clashes, and a growing HIV epidemic. Ethiopia has one of the most severe crises of child marriage in the world today. The legal age …
Child Marriage Briefing: Nigeria, Population Council
Child Marriage Briefing: Nigeria, Population Council
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This brief provides an overview of child marriage as well as the particulars of child marriage in Nigeria, one of the poorest countries in the world. More than two out of three Nigerians live on less than US$1 a day, and life expectancy is 52 years. The HIV/AIDS epidemic has had a devastating effect on the country, and Nigeria has some of the highest rates of early marriage worldwide. The Child Rights Act, passed in 2003, raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for girls. However, federal law may be implemented differently at the state level, and to date …
The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch, Monica J. Grant, Ann K. Blanc
The Changing Context Of Sexual Initiation In Sub-Saharan Africa, Barbara Mensch, Monica J. Grant, Ann K. Blanc
Poverty, Gender, and Youth
This working paper investigates the links between changing age at marriage and premarital sexual behavior in 27 sub-Saharan African countries in which Demographic and Health Surveys were conducted between 1994 and 2003. Using multiple-decrement life tables to examine the competing risks of premarital sex and marriage without prior sexual experience, we answer the largely unaddressed question of how reductions in the prevalence of early marriage have affected the likelihood of initiating premarital sex. Our analysis reveals that although the age of first sexual activity has either remained the same or increased, a shift in the context of sexual debut from …