Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN GHANA Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are substantial in Ghana. The share of women aged 18-22 who married as children is 17.2 percent but it has declined over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has also declined over time.  Child marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and higher labor force participation. These are however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. In order to design programs and policies to reduce child Box 1: Brief and Series Primer marriage, information is needed on the trend in the practice How is child marriage defined? Child marriage is defined as a over time, where it is most prevalent in a country, and what marriage or union taking place before the age of 18. the characteristics of girls marrying early are. Why a series on child marriage? Child marriage has significant Measuring child marriage is needed to inform policy. negative impacts – not only for girls, but also for a range of development outcomes. Demonstrating these impacts will assist Child marriage is recognized as a major development issue governments and others to make the case for intervening to reduce the practice. that affects girls in many developing countries. The practice has been linked to a number of health risks, higher fertility, What are the topics discussed in the series? The series looks and lower education attainment, among others. The at the impacts of child marriage on health, population, education, negative impact of child marriage on a wide range of employment, agency, and violence, among other outcomes. The development outcomes explains why in many countries welfare, budget, and non-monetary costs of child marriage are child marriage is now prohibited by law, and why the estimated. Legal/institutional aspects and options to reduce the elimination of child marriage is part of the new Sustainable practice are also discussed. Development Goals. Yet more is needed to eliminate the practice than adopting laws. In order to inform program and What is the question asked in this brief? The question is: How widespread is the practice, not only in terms of the share of girls policies to reduce the practice, this brief provides a basic marrying early, but also in terms of how early they marry? profile of child marriage in Ghana. The brief is part of a series of standardized briefs on this topic for several How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of child countries. marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  One in six women in Ghana still marry early. Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before 18), The analysis is based on data from the 2014 Demographic sometimes also with the share of girls who marry very and Health Survey (DHS) for Ghana. This is the latest DHS early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but they do available. Table 1 provides basic statistics on the age at not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the practice very first marriage for women. Two samples are considered: well. Better measures of child marriage can be adopted women aged 18 to 22, which is the youngest age group that from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and Wodon (2012). can be used to measure child marriage in the country1, and Three measures are used here: the incidence of child women aged 18-49 (the women’s questionnaire in the DHS marriage or headcount index, the child marriage gap, and collects data for women up to age 49). Clearly, a the squared child marriage gap. Definitions of these substantial share of women still marry below the age of 18, measures is provided in the annex. The measures are and some do so before the age of 15, but there are some estimated for child marriage as well as very early marriage differences in the likelihood of marrying as children defined as marrying before age 15. between the two groups. This suggests that child marriage has decreased over time. The child marriage gap represents the “depth” of child marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Table 1: Age at First Marriage for Women (%) who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 18-22 years 18-49 years early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the Not Married 73.4 25.1 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 18 or Above 9.4 48.7 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more Below 12 0.1 0.7 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 12 0.4 1.0 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 13 0.8 1.7 average number of years of early marriage for girls who 14 2.3 3.3 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the square 15 3.3 5.5 of that number, thereby putting even more emphasis on 16 5.0 6.7 girls who marry very early and taking into account 17 5.2 7.3 inequality in the age of marriage among girls marrying Total 100.0 100.0 early. Mean age at first marriage 16.8 20.0 Source: Authors’ estimation. The incidence of child marriage in Ghana in 2014 was lower than that observed 25 years ago. There has been a The consequences of child marriage are not the same reduction in how early girls marry, but the incidence whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from the remains substantial. poverty literature help in capturing better how early girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap Child marriage has been reduced over time. (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child even more weight on the girls who marry very early. marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first the age group 18-22. In that age group one in six girls marry before the age of 18 (17.2 percent for the 18-22 age group). Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 2.3 percent and the measures of child marriage are also important. squared gap (SG) at 0.4 percent for that group. By estimating the same measures on older groups, the table The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, provides the trend in child marriage over time. When education, and well-being is often larger when the girl considering the 18 years threshold, there has been a marries very early. For example, child marriage is known substantial decline in the headcount (which has been to have a negative impact on school enrollment and reduced in half) as well as other measures, suggesting that attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is girls tend to marry less early when they marry as children. that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of The fact that girls who marry early may marry less early is education attainment. This will not only limit her confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years age employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, threshold. Overall, the share of girls marrying as children but it will also have other negative consequences for her as has decreased by 17 percentage points over the last 25 well as for her children. years (the approximate time gap between the first and last 1 Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide data older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age bracket survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure child 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  age group), and the decline for extreme child marriage (15 to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is years threshold), is almost six percentage points2. that of the household in which they married, not their household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the 18 years 15 years quintile after marriage may not be that different from the H CBG SG H CBG SG quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and All 18-49 years 26.2 3.9 0.8 6.66 0.84 0.14 wealth may be lower than for older women. In Ghana, the Age group measures of child marriage differ by quintile but it is only in 18-22 years 17.2 2.3 0.4 3.69 0.38 0.05 the top quintile that child marriage is much less prevalent. 23-30 years 24.1 3.5 0.7 5.71 0.77 0.14 31-40 years 28.7 4.4 0.9 7.82 1.02 0.18 41-49 years 34.2 5.2 1.0 9.29 1.13 0.19 Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) Source: Authors’ estimation. 18 years 15 years H CBG SG H CBG SG Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural All 18-22 years 17.2 2.3 0.4 3.69 0.38 0.05 Wealth quintiles areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. Poorest 28.2 4.1 0.8 7.81 0.85 0.11 Poorer 21.7 3.2 0.6 4.94 0.64 0.11 Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban Middle 16.2 2.1 0.3 4.32 0.33 0.03 areas. There are also differences between regions, with the Richer 15.2 1.7 0.3 1.71 0.17 0.02 lowest measures observed in Greater Accra and the Richest 7.3 1.0 0.2 0.67 0.08 0.01 highest measures observed (according to the headcount Source: Authors’ estimation. index for the 18 years threshold) in the Northern and Upper East regions, followed by the Upper West, Central, and Child marriage is associated with lower education Eastern regions. Child marriage is less prevalent in the attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy Western region. The ranking of the regions in terms of the measures obtained with the 15 and 18 years thresholds Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of tends to be similar. education of the women, as well as literacy. Child marriage affects education attainment negatively, because girls Rural girls are twice more likely to marry early than urban often drop out of school when they marry. The causality girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are much goes the other way as well, as the ability to pursue one’s more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. education may help delay the age at marriage. This relationship between education and child marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of child marriage Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) tend to be higher among women with lower levels of 18 years 15 years education. The same relationship is observed when H CBG SG H CBG SG considering literacy where three categories are considered: All 18-22 years 17.2 2.3 0.4 3.69 0.38 0.05 the woman cannot read at all, can read part of a sentence, Region or can read a full sentence. Western 13.0 1.8 0.4 1.55 0.33 0.09 Central 19.2 2.8 0.5 5.55 0.37 0.02 Greater Accra 11.6 1.4 0.2 1.10 0.17 0.03 The relationship between child marriage and schooling is Volta 15.7 2.1 0.4 4.06 0.44 0.05 important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Eastern 18.7 2.6 0.5 4.47 0.43 0.05 marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Ashanti 16.6 1.9 0.3 2.20 0.15 0.01 attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Brong Ahafo 18.6 2.7 0.5 5.36 0.52 0.07 school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Northern 26.3 3.6 0.7 7.15 0.72 0.09 Upper East 24.5 3.7 0.7 7.53 0.80 0.11 Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect Upper West 23.4 3.9 0.9 7.23 1.16 0.20 primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, Residence and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Urban 11.0 1.4 0.2 2.06 0.22 0.03 education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent girls Rural 23.7 3.3 0.6 5.43 0.56 0.08 from completing their primary education (primary school Source: Authors’ estimation. takes in principle six years to complete, but some students start primary school late and may also repeat grades, so Household welfare is measured through a wealth index the actual age of completion may be delayed). with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and Conclusion Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in H CBG SG H CBG SG Ghana. Measures of child marriage are very high. The All 18-22 years 17.2 2.3 0.4 3.69 0.38 0.05 share of women aged 18-22 who married as children is Education 17.2 percent and it has declined substantially over time. No education 45.9 7.0 1.4 12.49 1.35 0.18 The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, Primary, some 27.7 3.7 0.7 6.21 0.69 0.08 has also declined. Other measures of child marriage have Primary, compl. 37.1 5.5 1.1 8.75 1.22 0.19 declined as well over the last 25 years. Child marriage is Secondary, some 15.1 1.9 0.3 2.87 0.26 0.04 associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and Secondary, compl. 4.6 0.5 0.1 0.25 0.02 - higher labor force participation. These are however only Higher 2.1 0.5 0.1 2.10 0.14 0.01 correlations, not necessarily causal effects. Other briefs in Literacy this series look at potential causal effects. Cannot read 36.5 5.5 1.1 10.38 1.20 0.18 Limited ability 26.3 3.0 0.4 4.02 0.27 0.02 References Full sentence 7.1 0.8 0.1 0.70 0.05 - No card available 68.0 3.8 0.2 - - - Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Relationships between child marriage and labor force Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, participation can be complex and depend on context. Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In some Annex: Methodological Note countries child marriage may reduce labor force The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child participation through higher fertility. In others, if child marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave little class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so that marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall population. the relationship between child marriage and labor force Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z the age participation is complex. In Ghana, child marriage threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a lower measures are lower for women not working, suggesting a age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child positive association between child marriage and work. In marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures addition, the type of work associated most with child depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the marriage is work with a mixture of earnings in cash and in- headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the squared child marriage gap in the following expression: kind, some of which may be work with low productivity.  These basic statistics however do not imply causality. 1 q  z  yi  P   z  n i1   Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child H CBG SG H CBG SG Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & All 18-22 years 17.2 2.3 0.4 3.69 0.38 0.05 Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Working Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the No 13.3 1.8 0.3 3.07 0.27 0.03 project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the yes 20.7 2.8 0.5 4.24 0.48 0.07 work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, Type of work earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and Margareta Not paid 15.8 2.1 0.4 3.80 0.44 0.07 Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions expressed in this Cash only 23.1 3.0 0.5 3.64 0.39 0.06 brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect the views of the Cash and in-kind 25.1 4.2 0.9 8.67 1.16 0.18 World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries they represent. In-kind only 16.6 2.1 0.4 3.31 0.30 0.03 Source: Authors’ estimation. The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are a quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. For more information on this topic, go to: www.worldbank.org/health. Page 4