Increasing Opportunities to Delay Marriage and Promote Schooling Results from a Baseline Survey in Rural Tanzania

Early marriage, defined as marriage before the age of 18, is mainly practiced in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where over one third of African girls and nearly a half of South Asian girls are married during childhood. In subSaharan Africa, the highest rates of child marriage are found in West Africa, in countries such as Niger, Chad and Mali. However, in East Africa, the numbers of girls married in countries such as Ethiopia, Zambia and Tanzania is also substantial. In rural Tanzania, median age at marriage is 18.5.