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were also more likely to experience domestic violence. The age gap between partners is
thought to further contribute to these abusive power dynamics.
Closely related to the issue of child marriage is the age at which girls become sexually active.
Women who are married before the age of 18 tend to have more children than those who
marry later in life. Pregnancy related deaths are known to be a leading cause of mortality for
both married girls between the ages of 15 and 19, particularly among the youngest of this
cohort. There is evidence to suggest that girls who marry at young ages are more likely to
marry older men. The demand for young wives to reproduce and the power imbalance
resulting from the age difference typically leads to very low condom use among such couples.
Two of the indicators on child marriage are an estimate of the percentage of girls and women
married before 15 years of age and the percentage of those married before 18 years of age.
The percentage of women married at various ages is provided in Table 11.8.
Table 11.8: Early marriage and polygyny
Percentage of women age 15-49 years who first married before their 15th birthday, percentages of women age 20-49 years who first
married before their 15th and 18th birthdays, percentage of women age 15-19 years currently married, and the percentage of women
currently married who are in a polygamous marriage, Afghanistan, 2010-2011
Region
Number
Percentage
of
married
women
before age
15 1 age 15-
49 years
Percentage
married
before age
15
Number
Percentag
of
e married
women
before age
18 2 age 20-
49 years
Percentage
of women
15-19 years
currently
married/in
union 3
Number
of
women
age 15-
19 years
Percentage
of women
age 15-49
years in
polygynous
marriage/
union 4
Number of
women age
15-49 years
currently
married/in
union
Central 12.4 3,696 16.5 39.8 2,681 11.5 1,015 4.8 2,250
Central
Highlands
23.8 714 29.4 58.3 513 25.7 202 8.1 504
East 15.1 2,153 17.7 44.4 1,659 23.7 494 8.1 1,583
North 13.8 2,876 17.2 49.2 2,139 20.0 737 7.6 2,001
North East 13.0 3,752 15.9 42.3 2,717 17.2 1,035 8.3 2,459
South 14.1 2,672 18.3 52.2 1,873 17.0 799 5.8 1,800
South East 8.0 2,731 9.2 31.6 2,183 21.0 548 8.0 2,117
West 29.8 2,695 35.0 66.3 2,015 33.2 680 7.2 2,043
Residence
Age
Urban 13.8 4,031 18.0 43.0 2,960 12.6 1,071 6.7 2,503
Rural 15.5 17,259 18.8 47.1 12,820 21.5 4,439 7.2 12,254
15-19 5.4 5,510 n/a n/a n/a 19.8 5,510 2.4 1,088
20-24 15.0 4,110 15.0 40.4 4,110 n/a n/a 3.7 2,755
25-29 20.2 3,579 20.2 47.2 3,579 n/a n/a 4.9 3,235
30-34 25.3 2,460 25.3 55.3 2,460 n/a n/a 9.4 2,347
35-39 18.5 2,389 18.5 51.1 2,389 n/a n/a 8.8 2,325
40-44 17.6 1,805 17.6 45.0 1,805 n/a n/a 11.5 1,701
45-49 14.9 1,438 14.9 39.4 1,438 n/a n/a 11.3 1,306
Education
None 17.0 17,359 19.5 48.0 13,903 24.9 3,455 7.5 13,244
Primary 9.9 1,595 16.3 44.5 766 15.3 830 3.7 714
Secondary 5.3 2,330 9.3 26.3 1,105 8.2 1,225 4.4 793
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