Regional differences in child marriage among women in India: substantiation from large-scale survey

Child marriage continues to be a substantial issue of both societal and public health significance within India, characterized by a complex interplay of factors contributing to its persistence. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the regional disparities of child marriage in the context of India. This study explores child marriage prevalence across population sub-groups within a specific region of India. Utilizing the latest available data from the National Family Health Survey (2019-2021), and employing bi-variate and multivariate analysis to examine the differential patterns and factors of child marriage among women aged 20-24 years in India at a regional level. Substantial regional variations in child marriage are found in India. The highest prevalence is found in the eastern region (37.3%) and lowest in the northern region (16.3%) (2019-2021). Further, the eastern region has highest child marriage prevalence across all population sub-groups with an exception of the northeastern region where Muslim women have high prevalence of child marriage (45%). The results also demonstrate that the southern, western, northeastern, central and northern regions have lower odds of child marriage than the eastern region (0.85, 0.76, 0.81, 0.50, and 0.47 times, respectively), even after controlling for selected socio-economic characteristics. The present study suggests that India must develop targeted interventions based on identified regional disparities in child marriage prevalence, focusing on eastern regions with higher prevalence. Area-specific programs informed by the survey findings need to be implemented to reduce the rate of child marriage and empower vulnerable population sub-groups.