UNITED NATIONS: According to a United Nations Children Fund (Unicef) report released on Thursday at the African Union Girls Summit in Lusaka, Zambia the total number of child brides in Africa will more than double in 35 years. The report predicted that the number of child brides would rise from 125 million to 310 million 2050.

The report said nearly half of the world’s child brides in 2050 will be African, if current trends persist, due to the continent’s rapid population growth and lagging social reforms.

The Unicef report, A Profile of Child Marriage in Africa, reveals that In all other regions of the world, current rates of reduction and demographic trends mean there will be fewer child brides with every passing year. By 2050 Africa will surpass South Asia as the region with the highest number of women aged 20 to 24 who were married during childhood.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2015