Fragile States, Fragile Lives: Child marriage amid disaster and conflict

Written by Gayle Lemmon on behalf of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), this working paper examines the relation between child marriage and fragile states. Countries in which the practice is most prevalent are often among the poorest and least stable.

Lemmon advocates for more research and investigation into the connection between child marriage and fragile states – all but one of the top ten countries with the highest rates of child marriage is on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) list of fragile states.

Data collection should be prioritized by governments, multilateral organizations, and relief agencies during and after natural disasters and conflicts. With better data in hand, those providing humanitarian aid can begin to address the factors that make child marriage a viable option for families struggling to survive.