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Indicator

Child Marriage by African country

2025

Share of women aged 20-24 who were first married or in union before age 18 (UNICEF).

Africa, 20251 of 54 countries
4.1%population-weighted average
Highest in 2025Libya · 4.1%Lowest in 2025Libya · 4.1%Reported in 20251 of 54 countries surveyed
Click a country to pin it — pinned countries are named on the map. Hatching means no record.
Western Sahara — no separate recordTanzania — no dataDemocratic Republic of the Congo — no dataSomalia — no dataKenya — no dataSudan — no dataChad — no dataSouth Africa — no dataLesotho — no dataZimbabwe — no dataBotswana — no dataNamibia — no dataSenegal — no dataMali — no dataMauritania — no dataBenin — no dataNiger — no dataNigeria — no dataCameroon — no dataTogo — no dataGhana — no dataCote d'Ivoire — no dataGuinea — no dataGuinea-Bissau — no dataLiberia — no dataSierra Leone — no dataBurkina Faso — no dataCentral African Republic — no dataRepublic of the Congo — no dataGabon — no dataEquatorial Guinea — no dataZambia — no dataMalawi — no dataMozambique — no dataEswatini — no dataAngola — no dataBurundi — no dataMadagascar — no dataGambia — no dataTunisia — no dataAlgeria — no dataEritrea — no dataMorocco — no dataEgypt — no dataLibya — 4.1%Ethiopia — no dataDjibouti — no dataUganda — no dataRwanda — no dataSouth Sudan — no dataNigeriaNigeriaEthiopiaEthiopiaKenyaKenyaSouth AfricaSouth Africa2025HIGHEST IN 2025Libya4.1%LOWEST IN 2025Libya4.1%PINNEDEthiopiano dataKenyano dataNigeriano dataSouth Africano dataOTHER ISLAND STATES · NOT DRAWNCabo Verdenot drawnno dataComorosnot drawnno dataMauritiusnot drawnno dataSao Tome and Principenot drawnno dataSeychellesnot drawnno data% of women aged 20–24 · quintiles of the observed range4.1%4.1%4.1%4.1%4.1%4.1%no record
20142025
UNICEF · national statistics offices · the provider's own estimates where a country has not reportedCC BY 4.0
Countries

By region

Population-weighted, so a region’s figure is the share of its people, not the average of its countries.
Northern Africa1 of 6 countries4.1%
Western Africa0 of 16 countries—
Eastern Africa0 of 18 countries—
Middle Africa0 of 9 countries—
Southern Africa0 of 5 countries—
Africaall 54 countries · 1 with a 2025 figure4.1%

What to know before you quote this

Specific to this series. For how we treat data generally, see methods.
53 countries have no usable 2025 recordNot a low value — no figure within the window. Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso and 48 more are hatched on the map and blank in the table.
Certainty is judged year by yearA country can be Reported in one year and Modelled the next. The tag follows the year on the scrubber, so the 2025 assessment is not a verdict on the whole series.

About this data

Child MarriageShare of women aged 20-24 who were first married or in union before age 18 (UNICEF).
SourceUNICEF, with processing by Africa API
Unit% of women aged 20–24
Last updated15 Aug 2026
Next expected updateAug 2027
Date range2006–2025
Coverage1 of 54 countries · 1 reported, 0 modelled, 53 with no usable figure

How the figure is made

ReportedA national statistics office or the original provider published the figure for that year directly. 1 countries did so for 2025 — the certainty shown on this page is that 2025 assessment, not a per-series one.ModelledNo direct figure that year. The provider’s own estimate, interpolation or projection stands in, and is marked as such wherever it appears.No dataNo usable figure within the window. Drawn hatched on the map and left blank in the table — not zero, and not filled in.

These three states are used the same way across every indicator on the site — how we treat certainty explains the full set and what we never do to a number.

Reuse and cite

Everything on this page is open under CC BY 4.0 — use it anywhere, including commercially, as long as Africa API and the original provider are credited. The provider’s own licence still applies to their data.

How to cite this page
Africa API (2026) — "Child Marriage". Data adapted from UNICEF. Retrieved 18 Oct 2026 from africa-api.com/indicators/child-marriage
The request behind this view
GET /v1/data?metric_key=child_marriage_women_20_24_pct&year=2025&limit=100

Read next

The measures that explain this one.
Child WelfareChild StuntingShare of children under 5 who are stunted (low height-for-age), a marker of chronic undernutrition.Child WelfareChild WastingShare of children under 5 who are wasted (low weight-for-height), a marker of acute undernutrition.Child WelfareBirth RegistrationShare of children under 5 whose births are registered with a civil authority (UNICEF).

Child Marriage: most recent figure per country, highest to lowest

11 countries · each with its own period

The figures at the top of the page compare every country in the same year. This list takes each country’s newest figure instead, whatever its period, so the order can differ.

#CountryChild MarriagePeriod
1Mali48.5%2024
2Mozambique48.4%2023
3Malawi38.7%2024
4Nigeria33.4%2024
5Senegal30.2%2023
6Democratic Republic of the Congo29.9%2024
7Zambia23.9%2024
8Angola23.1%2024
9Lesotho13.4%2024
10Libya4.1%2025
11Tunisia2.4%2023
Which observations are included?
The ranking includes 11 of 54 countries with available observations for 2023 or later and within 2 years of the freshest result. Each figure shows its reporting period. Countries without an eligible observation are omitted.
Does a higher value mean a better result?
The ranking is sorted by value, from highest to lowest. The order does not rate a country's performance. Interpretation depends on the indicator and its definition.

Embed this ranking

free · updates with the data

Drop this ranking into an article or a site and it stays current as the data updates. Paste the snippet anywhere HTML is allowed; a citation link is included.

<iframe src="https://africa-api.com/embed/child-marriage" width="100%" height="560" loading="lazy" style="border:0;max-width:640px" title="Child Marriage by African country, Africa API"></iframe>
<p style="font:13px/1.5 system-ui,sans-serif;margin:.5rem 0"><a href="https://africa-api.com/indicators/child-marriage">Child Marriage by African country, Africa API</a></p>

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