IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/sustdv/v34y2026is1p793-801.html

Early Marriages in Lower‐Middle‐Income Countries: A Serious Threat to Maternal–Child Health and Socio‐Economic Sustainable Development

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Yousif

Abstract

Early marriage is a violation of human rights, prevalent in lower‐middle‐income countries, and offers many challenges to achieve the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. This harmful practice is well‐anchored in poverty, cultural norms, illiteracy, and gender inequality. Financial constraints push parents to marry off their teenage daughters, considering economic assistance and social security. Unintended pregnancies, high risk of cervical cancer, vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases, painful delivery, depression, domestic violence, and suicides are serious problems faced by child mothers. Babies born to young mothers also face many health complications including preterm delivery, low birth weight, malnutrition, and developmental problems. High prevalence of early marriages in financially struggling countries impedes efforts to promote gender equality, quality education, and positive health effects, all essential for sustainable development. Resolving this social health issue calls for targeted interventions including education, community awareness, and strict implementation of child marriage laws to break this cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Yousif, 2026. "Early Marriages in Lower‐Middle‐Income Countries: A Serious Threat to Maternal–Child Health and Socio‐Economic Sustainable Development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(S1), pages 793-801, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:s1:p:793-801
    DOI: 10.1002/sd.70207
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/sd.70207
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/sd.70207?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Muchomba, Felix M., 2021. "Parents’ assets and child marriage: Are mother’s assets more protective than father’s assets?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Okine, Lucinda & Dako-Gyeke, Mavis, 2020. "Drivers of repeat pregnancy among teenage mothers in Accra, Ghana," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sheila Mukabana & Benta Abuya & Caroline W Kabiru & Anthony Idowu Ajayi, 2024. "Poverty, childcare responsibilities, and stigma hinder adolescent mothers from returning to school in a low-income urban informal settlement in Kenya," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(7), pages 1-16, July.
    2. Khan, Sarah, 2024. "Female education and marriage in Pakistan: The role of financial shocks and marital customs," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    3. Delprato, Marcos & Chudgar, Amita & Frola, Alessia, 2024. "Spatial education inequality for attainment indicators in sub-saharan Africa and spillovers effects," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    4. Lorenz, Aaron & Lee, Yu Na, 2023. "On Rice and Weddings: Impacts of Food Assistance on Child Marriage in Indonesia," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335954, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. repec:ags:aaea22:335954 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Rokicki, Slawa, 2021. "Impact of family law reform on adolescent reproductive health in Ethiopia: A quasi-experimental study," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:sustdv:v:34:y:2026:i:s1:p:793-801. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-1719 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.