Maharashtra (112 million inhabitants, 9.28% of India’s population) is India’s foremost state ranked on GDP in the country. UNDP has ranked Maharashtra amongst the top 5 on Human Development Index. Maharashtra has one of the best networks of roads and transport in the country and is home to the country’s premier Megalopolis- Mumbai.

Maharashtra is also a relatively well governed state (Ranked 3 on Good Governance Index)  with 6 administrative divisions- Amravati, Aurangabad, Konkan, Nagpur, Nashik, Pune which are further divided into 36 districts, 109 sub-divisions and 357 talukas.

Surprisingly however, on an average one of four marriages in Maharashtra is a Child Marriage.

Why is Maharashtra among the top 5 states on Child Marriage?  What are the socio-economic and cultural factors that are unique to Maharashtra? Are there some behavioural factors that are unique to Maharashtra? Which are the factors that drive Child Marriage in Maharashtra?

To answer those questions and to build an evidence based Social and Behaviour Communication Strategy to end Child Marriage in Maharashtra, UNICEF Maharashtra commissioned Centre for Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBC³) to undertake

a comprehensive program to determine the contours for a Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) Strategy.

Key Facts in Maharashtra:

• 1 in 10 of India’s child brides live in Maharashtra
• 1 in 4 young women* were married before their 18^th
• 4 in 5 ever-married women who were married before age 18 years gave birth before age 20.
• 1 in every 2 young women are married before reaching 18, if they reside in rural areas, live in poorer households and have less education.
• One in every three women (34%) aged 20-24 years who were married before 15 years had 3 or more children.
• Children born to the teenage mothers are more likely to die during infancy. Infant Mortality Ratio (IMR) is 38 per 1000 live births for children born to teenage mothers compared with IMR of 20 per 1000 live births for mothers of age 20-29.
• 1 in every 10 men were married before the age of 21

* Young women – women currently aged 20-24 years.

Fig 2. 17 districts have a higher prevalence of child marriages compared to the average across the state

Fig 3. 16 districts have a higher prevalence of teenage pregnancies as compared to average across the state.

Fig 4. Child Marriage and Girls education across Districts in Maharashtra.

As seen in Fig. 4 above, districts that have more than 50% of girls studying 10 years or more show marked decline in prevalence of Child Marriage.

Women married before 18 years have higher chances of having underweight and stunted children.

The data for Maharashtra is quite revealing on where it exists and how it correlates with issues like Stunting.

Fig 5. There is co-relation between prevalence of Child Marriage and stunting among children- due to early teenage pregnancies amongst undernourished girls.

Fig 6. Prevalence of Child Marriage and Stunting

Child marriage is more prevalent among girls with lower levels of education as can be seen in figure below:

Fig. 7: Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were married before age 18, by education, wealth quintile and residence

The cost to the State’s economy due to child marriages, child stunting, maternal and neo-natal mortality, health care and loss of potential educated & skilled youth is very high.

Fig. 8.: Percentage of undernourished children under five years by their mother’s age at marriage.