Nepal’s Child Brides: One girl’s story shines a light on a pervasive problem
In Nepal, 37 percent of girls are married before the age of 18, despite the legal age of marriage being 20 for both girls and boys. Poverty, peer and family pressure, as well as gender inequality, all drive child marriage in Nepal, leaving the country with one of the highest rates of child marriage in South Asia. Food insecurity plays a key role too. Nepali families that do not have enough food to eat are more likely to marry their daughters at a young age to decrease the financial burden on the family – which is all too often associated with having girls rather than boys. Read more here: