Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN NIGER Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are very high in Niger. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 76.8 percent and it has declined only marginally over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has declined more, but not rapidly either.  Child marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and higher labor force participation. These are however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. In order to design programs and policies to reduce child Box 1: Brief and Series Primer marriage, information is needed on the trend in the How is child marriage defined? Child marriage is defined as a practice over time, where it is most prevalent in a country, marriage or union taking place before the age of 18. and what the characteristics of girls marrying early are. Why a series on child marriage? Child marriage has Measuring child marriage is needed to inform policy. significant negative impacts – not only for girls, but also for a range of development outcomes. Demonstrating these impacts Child marriage is recognized as a major development will assist governments and others to make the case for intervening to reduce the practice. issue that affects girls in many developing countries. The practice has been linked to a number of health risks, What are the topics discussed in the series? The series higher fertility, and lower education attainment, among looks at the impacts of child marriage on health, population, others. The negative impact of child marriage on a wide education, employment, agency, and violence, among other range of development outcomes explains why in many outcomes. The welfare, budget, and non-monetary costs of child countries child marriage is now prohibited by law, and marriage are estimated. Legal/institutional aspects and options why the elimination of child marriage is part of the new to reduce the practice are also discussed. Sustainable Development Goals. Yet more is needed to eliminate the practice than adopting laws. In order to What is the question asked in this brief? The question is: How widespread is the practice, not only in terms of the share of inform program and policies to reduce the practice, this girls marrying early, but also in terms of how early they marry? brief provides a basic profile of child marriage in Niger. The brief is part of a series of standardized briefs on this How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Three in four women in Niger still marry early. employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, but it will also have other negative consequences for her The analysis is based on data from the 2012 as well as for her children. Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Niger. This is the latest DHS available. Table 1 provides basic statistics Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of on the age at first marriage for women. Two samples are child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before considered: women ages 18 to 22, which is the youngest 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry age group that can be used to measure child marriage in very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but the country1, and women ages 18-49 (the women’s they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the questionnaire in the DHS collects data for women up to practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can age 49). Clearly, a large share of women marry below the be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and age of 18, and many do so before the age of 15, but there Wodon, 2012). Three measures are used here: the are relatively few differences in the likelihood of marrying incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child as children between the two groups. This suggests that marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. child marriage may not have decreased much over time. Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. The measures are estimated for child marriage as well as Table 1: Age at First Marriage for Women (%) very early marriage defined as marrying before age 15. 18-22 18-49 years years The child marriage gap represents the “depth” of child Never married 11.2 3.4 marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Age at first marriage who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 18 or above 11.9 19.7 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the Below 12 1.4 1.4 12 3.3 3.8 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 13 6.9 8.2 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 14 14.9 15.8 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 15 23.6 25.7 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 16 13.9 11.4 average number of years of early marriage for girls who 17 12.8 10.5 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the Total 100.0 100.0 square of that number, thereby putting even more Mean age at 1st marriage 15.4 15.9 emphasis on girls who marry very early and taking into Source: Authors’ estimation. account inequality in the age of marriage among girls marrying early. The consequences of child marriage are not the same whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from The incidence of child marriage in Niger in 2012 was only the poverty literature help in capturing better how early marginally lower than that observed 25 years ago. There girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures has been a reduction in how early girls marry, but even the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap that reduction has been fairly limited. (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts even more weight on the girls who marry very early. Child marriage has not been reduced much over time. Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first measures of child marriage are also important. the age group 18-22. In that age group more than three fourth of girls marry before the age of 18 (76.8 percent for The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, the 18-22 age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at education, and well-being is often larger when the girl 13.8 percent and the squared gap (SG) at 3.0 percent for marries very early. For example, child marriage is known that group. By estimating the same measures on older to have a negative impact on school enrollment and groups, the table provides the trend in child marriage over attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is time. When considering the 18 years threshold, there has that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of been a slight decline in the headcount, at least comparing education attainment. This will not only limit her the youngest and oldest age groups, and a larger decline (in proportional terms) in other measures, suggesting that 1 girls tend to marry slightly less early when they marry as Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the children. Nevertheless, these gains remain fairly small. survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure child marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide The fact that girls who marry early may marry slightly less data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age early is confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  age threshold which suggest a larger decline in the Household welfare is measured through a wealth index headcount for those measures. Still, overall, the share of with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest girls marrying as children has decreased by only three to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is percentage points over the last 25 years (the approximate that of the household in which they married, not their time gap between the first and last age group), and the household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry decline for extreme child marriage (15 years threshold), with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the while larger, is limited at six percentage points 2. quintile after marriage may not be that different from the quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) wealth may be lower than for older women. In Niger, the 18 years 15 years measures of child marriage do not differ much between H CMG SG H CMG SG the four bottom quintiles. It is only in the top quintile of All 18-49 years 76.9 13.8 3.0 29.2 3.3 0.5 wealth that child marriage is much less prevalent. Age group 18-22 years 76.8 13.1 2.8 26.5 3.0 0.5 Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) 23-30 years 76.1 13.8 3.0 30.0 3.4 0.5 18 years 15 years 31-40 years 76.6 13.9 3.0 28.7 3.3 0.5 41-49 years 80.1 14.8 3.2 32.6 3.7 0.6 H CMG SG H CMG SG Source: Authors’ estimation. All 18-22 years 76.8 13.1 2.8 26.5 3.0 0.5 Wealth quintiles Poorest 85.2 14.8 3.0 32.2 3.2 0.4 Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural Second 85.8 15.6 3.4 32.2 3.8 0.6 areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. Middle 86.3 14.9 3.3 30.5 3.8 0.7 Third 85.1 14.3 3.0 29.0 3.3 0.5 Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban Richest 49.2 7.6 1.5 12.8 1.4 0.2 areas. There are also differences between regions, with Source: Authors’ estimation. the lowest measures observed in Niamey and the highest measures observed (according to the headcount index for Child marriage is associated with lower education the 18 years threshold) in Maradi and Zinder, followed by attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. Diffa, Tahoua, Tillaberi and Dosso. Child marriage is less prevalent in Agadez. The ranking of the regions in terms Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of of the measures obtained with the 15 and 18 years education of the women, as well as literacy. Child thresholds tends to be very similar, but differences tend to marriage affects education attainment negatively, be magnified even further when considering the lower age because girls often drop out of school when they marry. threshold for extreme child marriage. The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to pursue one’s education may help delay the age at Rural girls are twice more likely to marry early than urban marriage. This relationship between education and child girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower levels of education. The same relationship is observed when considering literacy where three categories are Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part 18 years 15 years of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. H CMG SG H CMG SG All 18-22 years 76.8 13.1 2.8 26.5 3.0 0.5 Region The relationship between child marriage and schooling is Agadez 39.7 7.4 2.0 14.1 2.6 0.7 important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Diffa 81.7 13.3 2.7 28.6 3.1 0.4 marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Dosso 77.1 11.6 2.2 21.6 2.2 0.3 attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Maradi 88.2 15.2 3.1 30.7 3.2 0.5 school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Tahoua 79.4 13.8 2.9 28.7 3.4 0.5 Tillaberi 78.0 12.1 2.3 22.2 2.2 0.3 Zinder 86.2 16.6 3.8 35.6 4.4 0.7 Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect Niamey 31.8 4.1 0.7 5.6 0.5 0.1 primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, Residence and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Urban 39.7 5.6 1.0 8.7 0.9 0.1 education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent Rural 86.2 15.0 3.2 31.0 3.5 0.5 girls from completing their primary education (primary Source: Authors’ estimation. school takes in principle six years to complete, but some students start primary school late and may also repeat grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and Conclusion Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in H CMG SG H CMG SG Niger. Measures of child marriage are very high. The All 18-22 years 76.8 13.1 2.8 26.5 3.0 0.5 share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is Education 76.8 percent and it has not declined substantially over No education 85.8 15.2 3.3 32.3 3.7 0.6 time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the Primary, some 71.6 11.2 2.2 16.4 2.0 0.4 age of 15, has declined more, but not rapidly either. Other Primary, compl. 75.3 9.2 1.5 10.6 1.2 0.2 measures of child marriage have declined only slowly as Secondary, some 32.0 4.0 0.6 5.9 0.5 0.1 Secondary, compl. 6.1 0.7 0.1 0.0 0.0 0.0 well over the last 25 years. Child marriage is associated Higher 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 with lower wealth, lower education levels, and higher Literacy labor force participation. These are however only Cannot read 84.5 14.7 3.1 30.4 3.5 0.5 correlations, not necessarily causal effects. Other briefs in Limited ability 73.6 11.5 2.4 19.7 2.4 0.4 this series look at potential causal effects. Full sentence 34.7 4.2 0.7 6.0 0.5 0.1 No card available 58.1 16.4 5.2 44.9 9.0 1.8 References Source: Authors’ estimation. Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Relationships between child marriage and labor force Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. participation can be complex and depend on context. Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. some countries child marriage may reduce labor force participation through higher fertility. In others, if child Annex: Methodological Note marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT that the relationship between child marriage and labor class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who force participation is complex. In Niger, child marriage marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall measures are higher for women not working, suggesting a population. Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z positive association between child marriage and work. In the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a addition, the type of work associated most with child lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child marriage is work without cash earnings, which may be marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures work with low productivity. These basic statistics however depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the do not imply causality. headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the squared child marriage gap in the following expression:  1 q  z  yi  P    Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years n i1  z   H CMG SG H CMG SG All 18-22 years 76.8 13.1 2.8 26.5 3.0 0.5 This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child Working Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research Yes 70.8 12.7 2.9 25.5 3.4 0.6 on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & No 78.1 13.2 2.7 26.7 2.9 0.4 Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Type of work Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the Not paid 51.2 10.4 2.4 27.1 3.0 0.4 work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, Cash only 70.9 12.2 2.7 22.4 2.9 0.6 earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global Cash and in-kind 75.7 13.6 3.0 27.3 3.8 0.6 Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and In-kind only 97.4 23.8 6.9 75.7 11.0 2.2 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions Source: Authors’ estimation. expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries they represent. The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are a quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. For more information on this topic, go to: www.worldbank.org/health. Page 4