NMICS 2010 Report - Central Bureau of Statistics

NMICS 2010, Mid- and Far Western RegionsPolygynous marriage, often known as the practice of having more than one wife, increases thefrequency of sexual intercourse which has implications for fertility and violations of women’s rights.Four percent of women aged 15–49 years in the MFWR were in a polygynous marriage or maritalunion (Table CP.5). There was little variation by region, subregion, urban/rural area or wealth status.However, younger women were less likely than older women to be in a polygynous marriage: onepercent of women aged 15–19 years compared to seven percent of women aged 45–49 years.Women’s education level also had an influence: five percent of women with no education were in apolygynous marriage compared to two percent of women with at least secondary education.Examining the percentages of women married before the age of 15 and 18 years by different agegroup allows us to see the trends in early marriage over time. This shows that early marriage inNepal is gradually declining, although rates remain high. Table CP.6 shows that 71 percent of womenaged 45–49 years in the MFWR were first married or in a marital union before the age of 18 yearscompared to 50 percent of women aged 20–24 years. Some 16 percent of women aged 15–49 yearswere first married or in a marital union before the age of 15 years and 60 percent were first marriedor in a marital union before the age of 18 years. There was little variation overall between urban andrural women in marriage before 15 or 18 years. However, the variation by age group was morepronounced for urban women than for rural women: marriage before the age of 15 years rangedfrom two percent for urban women aged 15–19 years to 32 percent for urban women aged 45–49years compared to five percent for rural women aged 15–19 years to 23 percent for rural womenaged 45–49 years; and marriage before the age of 18 years ranged from 36 percent for urbanwomen aged 20–24 years to 80 percent for urban women aged 45–49 years compared to 51 percentfor rural women aged 20–24 years to 69 percent for rural women aged 45–49 years.155