NEW DELHI: South Asia is home to highest number of child brides in the world as increased financial pressures and school closures due to Covid forced families to marry off their young daughters, according to new estimates released by UNICEF on Wednesday.

There were 290 million child brides in the region, accounting for 45 per cent of the global total, the children’s agency of the United Nations said, calling for more efforts to end the practice.

“The fact that South Asia has the highest child marriage burden in the world is nothing short of tragic,” said Noala Skinner, Unicef’s regional director for South Asia, said in a statement.

“Child marriage locks girls out of learning, puts their health and well-being at risk and compromises their future. Every girl who gets married as a child is one girl too many.”

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2023