Why ending child marriage is key to advancing Africa’s economic development

Damaturu, Yobe State, northeast of Nigeria. Credit: UN Women Opinion by Zuzana Schwidrowski (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) Thursday February 19, 2026 Inter-Press Office ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Feb 19 (IPS) – Africa is home to approximately 160 million adolescent girls between the ages of 10 and 19 (according to 2022 data from the United Nations Population Division). […]