Bangladesh has highest child marriage in S Asia

While Bangladesh has made strides in reducing infant mortality, in increasing immunisation and other successes in various sectors, it has the shameful distinction of having highest rate of child marriage in South Asia.

In two of every three marriages in Bangladesh, the bride's age is below 18. This is the highest incidence in South Asia.

This was stated in a report of Unicef. The report, Improving Children's Lives, Transforming the Future, was released on Thursday in New York. The report stated while the condition of children in South Asia has improved over the last 25 years, the disparity was extreme. Income, rural-urban, education -- all these factors contributed significantly to this disparity.

Half of the girls in South Asia married before they were 18. After Bangladesh, India had the highest incidence of child marriage. In Bangladesh child marriage took place in 80 percent of the poor families and in 53 percent of the wealthy families. Child marriage ratio among rural and urban households was 70:53.