A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions

in Latin America and the Caribbean

© UNICEF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/2017-2126/GARCIA

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 1
The photos in this publication are drawn
from an award-winning communications

© UNICEF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/2017-0832/GARCIA

campaign on child marriage launched
by UNICEF Dominican Republic
entitled, ‘The Worst Soap Opera’. It
used an innovative soap opera-style
of storytelling to challenge social
tolerance and shift perceptions on child
marriage. ‘The Worst Soap Opera’
tells the story of two adolescent girls
who find themselves forced into child
marriage with older men to escape
poverty and violence. The campaign won
three awards at Cannes Lions 2018, the
most important international festival of
advertising and creativity.

2 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
Child marriage in
the global
development agenda
Child marriage is a violation of human rights. SDG 5
Every child has the right to be protected from Achieve
gender equality
this harmful practice, which has devastating and empower all
women and girls
consequences for individuals and for society.
Child marriage is now firmly on the global
TARGET 5.3 INDICATOR 5.3.1
development agenda, most prominently through its
Eliminate all harmful Proportion of women aged
inclusion in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) practices, such as child, 20 to 24 years who were
early and forced marriage married or in a union before
target 5.3, which aims to eliminate the practice and female genital mutilation age 15 and before age 18

by 2030. Although indicator 5.3.1 measures child

marriage among girls, the practice occurs among
boys as well. Regardless of gender, marriage
before adulthood is a breach of children’s rights.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 3
 Key facts
One in four young women in Latin America and the Caribbean were first married or in union
before their 18th birthday.

Child marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean most often takes the form of an informal
union, in which a girl lives with a partner, rather than a formal marriage.

Child brides are more likely to reside in rural areas, to live in poor households and to have less
education.

The majority of women who married in childhood gave birth before their 18th birthday; 8 in
10 did so before they turned 20.

While other regions have made progress in reducing child marriage, the prevalence in Latin
America and the Caribbean has remained stagnant for 25 years.

If the observed trend continues, by 2030 Latin America and the Caribbean will have among the
world’s highest levels of child marriage, trailing behind only sub-Saharan Africa.

Among boys, countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have some of the highest levels
9
of child marriage worldwide. Nine of the 10 countries with available data show levels above the
global average.

4 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 Current state of child marriage

100
One in four
young women
in Latin America 80
and the Caribbean Married before age 15
were first married Married at or after age 15 but before age 18

or in union 60

before their 18th

birthday. The 40
region’s prevalence 40
34

is above the global 30

25 25
average, but lower 21
20 16
than that of 14
11
sub-Saharan Africa 15
7

and South Asia 0

9 8 5 5 3 3 1 1 5

West and Eastern and South Latin America Latin Caribbean Middle East Eastern East Asia World
Central Southern Asia and the America and North Europe and and the
Africa Africa Caribbean Africa Central Asia Pacific

FIG. 1 P
 ercentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before ages
15 and 18, by region

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 5
 Levels of child marriage vary
across Latin America and
Cuba 26
Jamaica 8
the Caribbean, from below 10
Haiti 15 per cent in Jamaica to over 30
Mexico Rep. Dominicana 36
26 per cent in the Dominican Republic,
Belice Nicaragua, Honduras and Belize
33
Honduras Santa Lucía 24
Guatemala 29
34
El Salvador 26 Barbados 29
Nicaragua 35 Trinidad y Tobago 11
Costa Rica 21
Colombia Guyana 30
Panam á 26
23 Surinam 19
Ecuador
20

FIG. 2  Percentage of women

aged 20 to 24 years who Brazil
Peru 26
were first married or in 19
union before age 18 Bolivia
(Plurinational
State of)
20
Less than 10 per cent
10 to 19 per cent
20 to 29 per cent Paraguay
30 per cent or more 22

No data

Uruguay
25
NOTE: Geographical boundaries, names and
designations used on these maps do not imply official
endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.

6 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
Child marriage FIG. 3a Percentage distribution of girls aged 15 to 17 years who were ever married or in union,
by current marital status
in Latin America
and the Caribbean Currently living with a man Currently married Widowed
Divorced or separated Missing data
most often takes
the form of an Peru
Bolivia (Plurinational State of)
informal union, Colombia
Honduras
in which a girl lives Costa Rica
Panama
with a partner, Paraguay

rather than a Suriname

Mexico
formal marriage El Salvador
Nicaragua
Ecuador
Guatemala
Brazil
Figures 3a and 3b illustrate the Dominican Republic
types of unions reported by Haiti
adolescent girls. Data shown are Cuba
limited to girls aged 15 to 17 years
0 20 40 60 80 100
who are or were in a union. Since
these girls are under 18, they are all
considered child brides.
FIG. 3b  Currently in a visiting relationship Currently living with a man Currently married
Figure 3b presents a subset Widowed Divorced, separated or no longer in a visiting relationship Missing data
of countries in which ‘visiting
Barbados
relationships’, a social and sexual
Guyana
relationship without cohabitation, are
Belize
common and were measured, hence
the difference in response categories. 0 20 40 60 80 100

Both figures show that most child

brides in Latin America and the
NOTE: Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. Barbados is based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases. Visiting unions
Caribbean are not formally married,
are measured in Barbados, Guyana and Belize as these are countries where the practice is common, but are not an available response
but rather in informal unions. category for countries shown in Figure 3a.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 7
 Girls most at risk of child marriage
FIG. 4 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18,
by residence, wealth quintile and education

100

Child brides in the 80

region are more

likely to reside 60
51
in rural areas,
39
to live in poor 40 35
32
households, 27
22
and to have less 20 17 18

education 8

0
Rural Urban Poorest Second Middle Fourth Richest None or Secondary
primary or higher

Residence Wealth quintile Education

NOTE: Analysis is based on a subset of 23 countries with available data by residence covering 86 per cent of the regional population of women aged 20 to 24 years; 20
countries with available data by wealth quintile covering 52 per cent of the population; and 24 countries with data by education covering 86 per cent of the population.

8 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 In the Dominican Republic, the country with the highest prevalence of child marriage in the
region, the largest disparities are seen across educational levels and wealth quintiles

Education
FIG. 5 Percentage of women
None or primary Secondary or higher aged 20 to 49 years
in the Dominican
Republic who were
first married or in
Richest

(31) 56 18 16 union before age 18,

by residence, wealth
quintile and education
Fourth

59 52 30 24

Rural women in the

Wealth quintile

poorest quintile who had

no more than a primary
Middle

61 56 32 33 education were more

than four times as likely to
be child brides as urban
women from the richest
Second

61 57 38 37 quintile with a secondary

education or higher (67%
compared to 16%).
Poorest

67 64 45 46

Rural Urban Rural Urban

Residence

NOTE: The Dominican Republic is presented here as an illustrative example, as it is the country in the region with the highest prevalence of child
marriage. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. The values in parentheses are based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 9
 Ethnicity has a significant relationship with levels of child marriage in some countries

FIG. 6 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18, by ethnicity or language

100

80 75

60 58

50
48

40 36 35
32 33 31
28 29 27
26 25 (27) 27 26 24 22
22 22 21 21 21 19 22
(20)
20 16 17
14 14 13

0
Indigenous
Speaking other languages

Speaking only Guaraní

Speaking Guaraní and Spanish

Speaking only Spanish

Raizal from archipelago

Spanish
Amerindian
African

East Indian

Mixed race

Indigenous

Black/Afro-descendant

Other

Miskito

Don't know/None

British black

Lenca

Other

Garifuna

Maya chorti
Indigenous

Black/Afro-descendant

Other

(San Andres)
Quechua

Aymara

Other

Afro-descendant

Caucasian

Other/Don't know

Native

Mestizo
Bolivia
Paraguay Guyana Panama Honduras Colombia (Plurinational State of) Peru

NOTE: Countries shown here are those for which the prevalence of child marriage varies by ethnicity, and each has a prevalence in one ethnic group that is statistically significantly higher than the level in at least
one other ethnic group. Only categories with 25 or more unweighted cases are presented. The values in parentheses are based on 25 to 49 unweighted cases. The category of Black/Afro-descendant in Colombia
also includes the Mulatto and Afro-Colombian ethnic groups. In Peru, the category of Native includes Quechua, Aymara, native or indigenous Amazonian, and other indigenous group or origin; the category of Afro-
descendant includes Black/Brown/Zambo/Mulatto/Afro-Peruvian people. The categories presented for Paraguay and Bolivia represent language or mother tongue since data on ethnicity were not collected.

10 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 © UNICEF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/2017-2100/GARCIA
A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 11
 Lives of child brides
FIG. 7 Percentage distribution of spousal age gap between women and their partners,
among currently married women aged 20 to 24 years, by age at marriage

Partner is:
Spousal age gap: Younger 0-4 years older 5-9 years older 10+ years older Unknown

One in five child Married before

brides is married age 18

to a man who is at Married at or

after age 18
least 10 years older
0 20 40 60 80 100

Early childbearing: The majority of women who married in childhood gave birth before
their 18th birthday, and more than 8 in 10 did so before they turned 20
FIG. 8 Percentage of ever-married women aged 20 to 24 years who FIG. 9 Percentage of ever-married women aged
gave birth before ages 18 and 20, by age at marriage 20 to 24 years who have had three or more live
births, by age at marriage

Gave birth before age

Gave18birth before
Gave
agebirth
18 at or after agebirth
Gave 18 but before
at or age 18
after age 20 but before age 20

17% 4%
17% 4%
Married before ageMarried
18 58 58 28 28
before age 18

Married at or after Married

age 18 at or
8 after age
2618 8 26 Married before Marriedbefore
Married at or Married at or
age 18 after
age 18 18
age after age 18

NOTE: Values in Figure 7 are based on 23 countries covering 78 per cent of the regional population of women aged 20 to 24 years. Values in Figure 8 and Figure 9 are based on 20 countries covering 84 per cent of
the regional population of women aged 20 to 24 years.

12 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 Reproductive health: Across the region, about a quarter of young women do not have
their contraceptive needs met with modern methods, but access to antenatal and delivery
care is high regardless of age at marriage

FIG. 10 P
 ercentage of ever-married women aged 20 to 24 years whose demand for family planning is satisfied by a modern method, whose
last pregnancy was desired, who had four or more antenatal care visits during their last pregnancy, and who had a skilled attendant
at the delivery of their last live birth, by age at marriage

Demand for family Desired last Four or more antenatal Skilled attendant
planning satisfied with pregnancy care visits at delivery
a modern method

76% 76% 73%

76% 76%
73% 73%
48%
73% 48% 54%
48% 54%
48% 54%84%
54% 84% 84%
92% 84%
92% 92% 92%
93% 93% 93%
95%93%95% 95% 95%

76% 73% 48% 54% 84% 92% 93% 95%

MarriedMarried
before age 18Married
Married
before age
before Married
18 before
age at or after
18ageMarried
18 age
Married
at or 18
after
Married
at age
or after
at
18or age
after18age 18

Married before age 18 Married at or after age 18

NOTE: Values are based on 21 countries covering 83 per cent of the regional population of women aged 20 to 24 years for desired pregnancy, antenatal care and skilled attendant at delivery. Values are based on 18 countries
covering 48 per cent of the regional population of women aged 20 to 24 years for demand for family planning.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 13
 © UNICEF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/2017-0549/GARCIA
14 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 Empowerment: In countries with Employment: In four of five countries with
data, women are likely to have a say in data, child brides were somewhat less likely
household decisions, whether they were to be employed than women who married
child brides or not in adulthood or who had not married

FIG. 11 Percentage of ever-married women aged 20 to 24 years who FIG. 12 P

 ercentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were employed
participate in household decision-making, by age at marriage and paid cash in the past month, by age at marriage

Married before age 18 Married at or after age 18 Married before age 18 Married at or after age 18

Never married or in union

98 99
100 100
90 90 92
86 87 85
84 83 83
82
78
80 80
70

61
60 60 56
50
47
43
40 40 37 37
30
27
24
20 20 18

0 0
Colombia Guatemala Haiti Peru Honduras Colombia Peru Honduras Haiti Guatemala

NOTE: Participation in household decision-making is measured by the woman’s self-reported role

as either the primary or joint decision maker in at least one of the following decisions: the woman’s
own health care, large household purchases, household purchases for daily needs, visits to family or
relatives, food to be cooked each day and how to spend money earned by the husband.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 15
 Intimate partner violence: Though most women say wife-beating is not justified, such
violence is common. Across four countries with data, at least 3 in 10 women who married
in childhood were subjected to violence by an intimate partner

FIG. 13 P
 ercentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who believe FIG. 14 Percentage of ever-married women aged 20 to 24 years
a husband is justified in beating his wife under certain who were ever subjected to any violence by current or
circumstances, by age at marriage former intimate partner, by age at marriage

Married before age 18 Married at or after age 18

100 100

80 80

60 60

46
39 41 40
40 40 37
30
28
23
20 20

7 5 4
0 0
Married Married at Never married Colombia Honduras Haiti Guatemala
before age 18 or after age 18 or in union

NOTE: Values are based on 20 countries covering 49 per cent of the regional population of women
aged 20 to 24 years.

16 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 Generational trends While other regions have made
progress against child marriage, in
in child marriage Latin America and the Caribbean
the prevalence has remained
stagnant for 25 years

FIG. 15 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18, by region

25 years ago 10 years ago Today

100

80

60

40

20

0
World South Asia West and Eastern and Middle East Latin America Eastern Europe East Asia
Central Africa Southern Africa and and and and
North Africa the Caribbean Central Asia the Pacific

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 17
 Child marriage has remained steadily at the same level across Latin America and the
Caribbean, with exceptions in only a few countries

FIG. 16 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were FIG. 17 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were
first married or in union before ages 15 and 18 first married or in union before age 18 in El Salvador,
Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

There is no evidence of progress in most countries in the region.

Married before age 18
El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua are the
Married before age 15 exceptions, all with lower levels of child marriage today than 25
years ago. Nonetheless, additional progress is needed.

El Salvador Guatemala
60

40

20
25
24
0

Honduras Nicaragua
60

40
4 5

20

25 years 20 years 15 years 10 years 5 years Today

ago ago ago ago ago 0
1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015
Year

18 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
 Looking ahead to 2030

FIG. 18 Percentage of women aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before age 18, projected, by region

If the observed trend

continues, by 2030
Latin America and the
West and Central Africa 40
Caribbean will have
37
among the world’s
Eastern and Southern Africa 34
highest levels of
South Asia 30
child marriage,
Latin America and the Caribbean 25
27
25
trailing behind only
sub-Saharan Africa

Middle East and North Africa 16 17

13
Eastern Europe and Central Asia 11

8
East Asia and the Pacific 7 7

Today 2030

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 19
 Child marriage among boys Around one in five
young men were
married or in union
before age 18 in
Belize and Nicaragua

FIG. 19 Percentage of men aged 20 to 24 years who were first married or in union before ages 15 and 18

Married before age 15 Married at or after age 15 but before age 18

Child marriage is a rights
violation for both boys and girls.
50 Though little research has been
done on outcomes for child
grooms, marriage places boys in
40 an adult role for which they may
not be prepared.

Countries in Latin America and

30
the Caribbean are among those

22 with the highest levels of the

19 practice. Nine of the 10 countries
20 with data have levels above the
global average (3%).
12
11
10
9 8 8 7 In most high-prevalence
10
countries in the region, child

2 grooms were more likely to be in

5 the poorest households.
1 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 0
0
Belize Nicaragua Honduras Cuba Guatemala Guyana Bolivia Dominican Colombia Haiti In all countries with trend
(Plurinational Republic
data, the prevalence has been
State of)
relatively steady over time.

20 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
Latin America and the Caribbean Joint Programme for a Region Free of Child Marriage and Early Unions (2018-2021)

Historically, child marriage and early unions have not been at the forefront of
development agendas in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). But progress
on gender equality is at risk in the region, putting girls in a greater position
of vulnerability. LAC currently has the world’s second-highest adolescent
pregnancy rate; without action, it will earn the title of second-highest prevalence
of child marriage in the world by 2030. Gender-based violence, reasons for
school drop-out, and the risk of perpetuating cycles of inequalities for affected
girls and their children lurk behind both indicators.
The future for girls is bleak without significant investments and concerted
actions by all stakeholders to ensure no girl in LAC is left behind.
To end child marriage, UNICEF LAC targets these gender-based obstacles, in line with
the UNICEF Gender Action Plan’s Targeted Priority on child marriage and early unions.
Aligning efforts
Recognizing the need for systemic change, three United Nations regional
offices – UNICEF, UNFPA and UN Women – have joined forces to prevent and
address child marriage and early unions, formulating the LAC Joint Programme
for a Region Free of Child Marriage and Early Unions (2018-2021).
Now focused on five countries (Colombia, the Dominican Republic, El
Salvador, Guatemala and Mexico), the plan is to expand regionally. Both the
work of UNICEF and that of the joint regional programme prioritize most-at-risk
girls, such as those from indigenous, rural and low-income households.
The programme contributes to fulfilment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable
Development and the UNICEF-UNFPA Global Programme to End Child
Marriage; it centres on four evidence-based strategies, described below.

ALIGN NATIONAL FRAMEWORKS WITH
INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS ON THE AGE OF
MARRIAGE AND GENDER EQUALITY
Key activities: Work with women’s ministries,
parliamentarians and civil society to include measures
and commitments in regional/global agendas (e.g.,
the Regional Conference on Women); Drive evidence-
based advocacy to reform the legal age of marriage
Encouraging results to date: In Mexico, UN
agencies and a range of partners are working to
raise the minimum age of marriage to 18. In 2017, El
Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras removed all legal
exceptions to the minimum age of marriage (18 years).
SUPPORT GIRLS’ EMPOWERMENT AND
TRANSFORM GENDER NORMS
Key activities: Identify and address harmful beliefs
and practices that promote child marriage and early
unions; Create safe spaces for girls to develop skills and
alternate life choices; Work with parents, community
leaders and service providers to reduce acceptance and
perpetuation of child marriage and early unions
Encouraging results to date: In the Dominican
Republic, girls’ clubs and national youth leadership
camps were organized to foster leadership skills, girls’
empowerment and networks between participants.
PROMOTE POLICIES AND SERVICES THAT
ADDRESS THE DRIVERS OF CHILD MARRIAGE
AND EARLY UNIONS
Key activities: Ensure institutions within key
sectors provide robust responses that prevent child
marriage and early unions and protect affected girls
from social exclusion
Encouraging results to date: In Belize, a child marriage
and early union road map is being prepared that empowers
teachers to provide sexual education; expands economic
programmes for at-risk, pregnant and/or married adolescent
girls; and revises the law to allow adolescent parents and
young people in union to reintegrate into schools.
BREAK THE SILENCE NATIONALLY AND
REGIONALLY
Key activities: Strengthen evidence on the causes
and consequences of child marriage and early
unions to inform decision-making and advocacy;
Convene like-minded partners to generate
movements to end child marriage and early unions;
Organize evidence-based campaigns to influence
decision-making and generate public debate
towards rejecting the practice
Encouraging results to date: Colombia, the
Dominican Republic and Guatemala are collecting
trend data on gender norms to inform actions, while
engaging in communications campaigns to raise
awareness and promote public dialogue on the issue.
In the Dominican Republic, a twitter campaign by UN
agencies and partners advocated for legal reforms to
the age of marriage; reaching over 7 million people,
it coincided with parliamentary debates on child
marriage and early unions.

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 21
Technical note 
To assess the prevalence of child marriage, this analysis used SDG indicator
5.3.1 – the proportion of women aged 20 to 24 years who were married or
in a union before age 18. All references to ‘marriage’ or ‘child brides’ include
both formal marriages and informal unions in which women started living
together with a partner as if married before age 18. For child marriage among
boys, the same definitions apply, referring to men rather than women.
 
So-called ‘visiting relationships’ are a phenomenon observed in parts of the
Caribbean, referring to a social and sexual relationship without cohabitation.
In this analysis, visiting relationships are considered a form of informal
unions, and the countries for which surveys collect data on this practice are
Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Saint Lucia, and Trinidad and Tobago. In all other
countries, data on visiting relationships are not available.
The percentage of currently married adolescent girls aged 15 to 17 years
should not be interpreted as indicative of the risk of being married in
childhood. Any prevalence measure among girls under age 18 will be an
underestimate of the full extent of the practice, as girls who are unmarried at
the time of the data collection may still marry before their 18th birthday.
Aggregate regional estimates for Latin America and the Caribbean are based
on 24 countries with comparable available data, covering 86 per cent of the
female population in the region. Results of the Brazil National Demographic
and Health Survey 2006 (Pesquisa Nacional de Demografia e Saúde da
Criança e da Mulher, PNDS) are included since Brazil represents 32 per cent
of the female population in the region. For all countries other than Brazil, data
are from 2010 to 2017.
22 I A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean
The sub-regional estimate for Latin America is based on a subset of 17 countries:
Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El
Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru
and Uruguay, covering 86 per cent of the female population in Latin America. The
sub-regional estimate for the Caribbean is based on a subset of seven countries:
Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, Guyana, Saint Lucia, Suriname, and Trinidad and
Tobago, covering 95 per cent of the female population in the Caribbean.
 
Global estimates are based on a subset of 105 countries with comparable
available data from 2010 to 2017, covering 77 per cent of the global female
population. Regional estimates represent data covering at least 50 per cent of
the regional population. Data coverage was insufficient to calculate regional
estimates for North America and Western Europe.
Confidence intervals are not shown in all figures in this publication. Caution is
therefore warranted in interpreting the results since apparent differences among
groups may not be significant. Key messages were developed taking confidence
intervals into account; in cases where the title indicates that there is a difference
among different groups or countries, it has been confirmed as statistically significant.
Trends in the prevalence of child marriage presented in figures 15 through 17
relied on an age-cohort analysis based on data from the latest available surveys.
Projected values in Figure 18 are based on a continuation of observed progress,
applying the average annual rate of reduction observed in the past 10 years.
 
‘Childhood’ refers to the period from birth until the 18th birthday.
‘Adolescence’ refers to the period from ages 10 to 19 years.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This data brief was prepared by the Data and Analytics
Section of UNICEF (Claudia Cappa, Colleen Murray,
Hyunju Park, Paul Schaettle and Munkhzul Zookhuu)
with inputs from the Latin America and Caribbean
Regional Office (Shelly N. Abdool).
 
DATA SOURCES
UNICEF global databases, 2019, based on Multiple
Indicator Cluster Surveys, Demographic and
Health Surveys and other nationally representative
surveys, 2006 to 2017. For detailed source
information by country, see <data.unicef.org>.
 
SUGGESTED CITATION
United Nations Children’s Fund, A Profile of Child
Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and
the Caribbean, UNICEF, New York, 2019.

© UNICEF DOMINICAN REPUBLIC/2017-1521/GARCIA

A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 23
For information on the data in this brochure:
UNICEF
Data and Analytics Section
Division of Data, Research and Policy
3 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017, USA
Telephone: +1 212 326 7000
Email: data@unicef.org
Website: data.unicef.org
For information on child marriage in Latin America and the Caribbean:
Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office
Building 102, Alberto Tejada St.
City of Knowledge
Panama, Republic of Panama
Telephone: +507 301 7400
Email: uniceflac@unicef.org
Website: www.unicef.org/lac
A Profile of Child Marriage and Early Unions in Latin America and the Caribbean I 24