In 2018, 2.3% of girls were married off before they turned 18

NEW DELHI: Even though the percentage of women marrying at age 21 years and above is pitched as high as 64.5% at the national level in the

Sample Registration System Statistical report

released by the registrar general and Census commissioner of India, the data for 2018 brings to the fore a worrisome fact that the percentage of

girls

who were married before reaching 18 years of age was 2.3% – the legal age of marriage for a woman.


Among states the percentage of below 18 - year - old married girls ranged from 0.9% in Kerala to 3.7% in West Bengal. After

West Bengal

the other two states with the highest percentage of girls married below 18 years was in Rajashtan at 3.5% and Bihar at 3.2%.

In rural India, 2.6% girls were married before 18, 37.4% married between 18 to 20 years and 60% at 21 years and above. In urban areas, the girls who were married below 18 years was 1.6%, 23.2% married between 18-20 years and 75.3% married at 21 years or later. At the national level, 33.2% were married between the age of 18-20 years.

The data shows that the percentage of

females

marrying at age 21 years also varies from state to state. It was 49.1% in West Bengal to a very high 86.2% in Jammu and Kashmir.

The data also shows that at the national level, the mean age at effective marriage for females in the year 2018 is 22.3 years and varies from 21.8 years in rural areas to 23.4 years in urban areas. Among the bigger states/UTs, the mean age varies from 20.9 years in West Bengal to 25.6 years in Jammu and Kashmir.

In 2018, of the total population, 46.3% people were married and 3.5% constituted of widowed, divorced and separated men and women. The sample registration system report for 2018 released by office of the registrar general of India and census commissioner shows that not only was the number of married women higher than men, among those widowed, divorced or separated the percentage of women female population is significantly higher at 5.5% than males at 1.6%. This trend is visible at state level too. At the national level while 43.2% of the males were married, for females it was 49.5%.

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