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). They embody the energy, creativity and potential of the continent. That cannot be denied The Africa we wantas envisioned in the African Union Agenda 2063, will not be achieved without the full participation of this group, which represents a key component of the continent’s current and future workforce.
Yet one of the most persistent obstacles to achieving this vision is the prevalence of child marriage and its devastating impact on the lives and well-being of African girls, and its negative impact on the continent’s economic potential.
Child marriage is one of the most underestimated structural constraints on Africa’s ability to capture its demographic dividend.
Yet millions remain behind
The statistics paint a worrying picture. According to the World Bankfour in ten girls between 15 and 19 years old in Africa (excluding North Africa) do not going to school or working, or being married or having childrencompared to just over one in ten boys. On average, almost a third (32 percent) of young women (15-24 years) are not in education, employment or training (NEET), compared to 23 percent of boys in that age category (Figure 1).
In Africa today, 130 million girls and women are married before their 18th birthday, the highest rate in the world (UNICEF, 2025). The prevalence of child marriage varies across the continent. Central and West Africa bear a disproportionate share of the global burden.
But even North Africa, with the lowest yet significant rate of child marriage, shows that this harmful practice persists across the continent (Figure 2). Furthermore, nine of the ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage are in Africa (Figure 3).
The data reflects the most recently available information for the period 2016-2023.
And the economic costs are enormous
Child marriage is most often depicted as a violation of human rights or as a social and health problem. It is. And indeed, complications from pregnancy and childbirth remain a leading cause of death for adolescent girls.
However, these tragic and most visible aspects are only part of the story. Less visibly, but most often, child marriage is associated with early pregnancies and effectively excludes girls from education and formal economic participation, precisely at the stage when investments in skills and learning yield the highest returns (Figures 4 and 5). This practice not only limits individual futures, but also has major economic consequences for African countries and regions.
For African countries, as for some other developing countries, child marriage is a major unaddressed economic disruption. It disrupts human capital accumulation and labor allocation, with economy-wide implications for productivity and growth.
More specifically:
- • Child marriage curtails education, limits skills acquisition and hinders women’s participation in formal labor markets
• Girls who marry early are much more likely to engage in unpaid care work or low-productivity informal activities, with limited prospects for upward social mobility (Figure 6).
• Child marriage limits girls’ full integration into society by depriving them of their rights, identity and agency. It creates dependency and blocks leadership potential.
The consequences for African labor markets are particularly serious. Productive structural transformation requires a workforce that can move from low-productivity activities to higher value-added sectors, including manufacturing, modern services and the digital economy.
When girls’ education and skills acquisition fall short, the supply of skilled workers for these sectors shrinks. In turn, entrepreneurs’ incentives to create and grow productive businesses are curtailed. At the macro level, productivity growth, job creation in the formal sector and diversification into high value-added activities have declined.
The economic costs of child marriage persist for generations. This practice is closely linked to early and high fertility, increased maternal morbidity and mortality, and poorer health and educational outcomes for children.
If left unaddressed, these social consequences will lead to lower human capital (educational performance and health) of the next generation, reducing labor productivity and innovation. Over time, they result in a persistent barrier to achieving fiscal sustainability, regional integration and inclusive growth.
These dynamics hamper Africa’s chances to seize the demographic dividend. While the continent’s growing workforce is seen as a potential source of accelerated growth if accompanied by adequate investments in healthcare, education and job creation, child marriage is associated with reduced employment for women in the formal sector (Figure 6).
Subsequently, productivity gains fall below potential levels and demographic opportunities risk becoming a demographic burden.
Despite its negative macroeconomic implications, child marriage is not part of the mainstream economic frameworks and discussions that shape macroeconomic planning and policies in Africa. It is typically addressed through social or legal interventions, while macroeconomic strategies, industrial policies and fiscal frameworks proceed as if these aspects of human capital constraints are exogenous.
Such decoupling results in systematic underinvestment in one of the most binding constraints on Africa’s productive capabilities.
Policymakers and the population at large need to reconsider child marriage
From an economic perspective, the arguments for investing in girls are compelling. Analyzes consistently show that investments in girls’ education and health care yield high returns, increasing lifetime earnings and increasing productivity.
In the ‘full gender equality scenario’, closing the gender gap in education, employment and decision-making could lead to a trillion USD to Africa’s GDP by 2043. Estimates also suggest that every dollar invested in the health, education and empowerment of adolescent girls can generate multiple economic returns over time.
Translating evidence into effective policy will require a change in approach – one that sees ending child marriage as a core component of Africa’s economic strategy. Indicators on adolescent girls’ education, employment and unpaid care burdens should therefore become an integral part of macroeconomic frameworks, labor market projections and productive capacity assessments.
Against this backdrop, addressing the issue of child marriage in Africa is a matter of economic necessity, as Africa’s successful transformation requires unlocking the full productive potential of its people. This in turn requires sustainable investments in girls as economic actors and not just as beneficiaries of social programs.
Africa needs to finance Africa’s girls, and measures such as enhanced domestic resource mobilization, gender-responsive budgeting and gender bonds can go a long way in this regard. Moreover, policymakers should view government spending aimed at reducing child marriage and supporting girls’ secondary education as capital expenditure rather than purely social expenditure. This would help align fiscal frameworks with longer-term growth objectives.
Ending the practice of child marriage will not in itself ensure that Africa achieves its development goals. However, if this structural barrier is not addressed, it will continue to hinder productivity, competitiveness and the achievement of the 2063 Agenda.
Recognizing that ending child marriage is both an economic and social imperative would be an important step forward. It would also place girls’ empowerment where it belongs: at the center of Africa’s development strategy and the pursuit of inclusive and sustainable growth.
Zuzana Schwidrowski is director of the Gender, Poverty and Social Policy department at the ECA and Kind regards, Maria Lipede Colleague in the same division.
Source: Africa Renewal, United Nations
IPS UN Office
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