Reducing child marriage in sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating the joint potential of protective marriage and education policies
Summary & Objectives
This study evaluates whether national policies are more effective in reducing child marriage when implemented as a package rather than in isolation. Using a natural experiment design, the authors link longitudinal, cross-national policy data on minimum-age-of-marriage laws and tuition-free lower secondary education with Demographic and Health Survey data from 16 sub-Saharan African countries between 2003 and 2021. The objective is to assess the independent and combined effects of these policies on child marriage and early childbearing among women aged 15–26, with particular attention to potential policy synergies
Findings
Protective minimum-age-of-marriage laws alone were not consistently associated with reductions in child marriage or early births, nor were tuition-free lower secondary education policies when implemented on their own. In contrast, the simultaneous introduction of both policies was associated with significant declines in marriage and childbirth before ages 15 and 18. The combined effect was strongest for the youngest adolescents, with the probability of marriage before age 15 nearly halved among those exposed to both policies compared with those exposed to neither. These results were robust across alternative definitions of policy exposure and suggest that laws and education policies reinforce each other by increasing girls’ agency, shifting norms around marriageability, and creating a viable alternative to early marriage
Recommendations
Efforts to end child marriage should move beyond single-policy approaches and prioritise coordinated, multisectoral policy packages. Governments should pair strong minimum-age-of-marriage laws that eliminate parental consent exceptions with guaranteed access to tuition-free secondary education, while also investing in effective implementation and enforcement. Expanding free education through completion of secondary school and reducing indirect schooling costs could further strengthen these effects, particularly for preventing the earliest and most harmful marriages
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