The Consequences of Child Marriage in Indonesia

Abstract

Did you know that the legal age for marriage in Indonesia is 19? Yet close to 25 million women and 7 million men have married well before this age. Child marriage is prohibited by international law. UNICEF reports that if progress to end this practice is not accelerated, 150 million girls will be married in childhood by 2030. Professor Lisa Cameron and Dr Diana Contreras Suarez present the results of analysis that found significant and persistent negative effects of child marriage on women and men. These negative effects also have consequences across generations in Indonesia.