Child marriages remain rampant in the country, a recently published Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT) 2022 Population and Housing Census Preliminary Report on fertility has shown.
While child marriages remain outlawed in the country, ZIMSTAT has unearthed that
133,455 women aged 20 –24 years, representing 16.2 percent of the total, were married-off before attaining the age of 18.
“The proportion was higher, at 22.7 percent in rural areas as compared to 7.2 percent in urban areas,” reads the report.
Focusing on the same by province the proportion was highest, standing at 28.9 percent and 22.8 percent in Mashonaland Central and Mashonaland West provinces respectively.
“It was comparatively lower, standing at 2.6 percent and 7.7 percent in Bulawayo and Harare metropolitan provinces,” said ZIMSTAT.
On the other hand, the agency highlighted that one percent of women aged 20-24 years were in union before the age of 15 years.
“The proportion was higher, at 1.6 percent in rural areas as compared to 0.3 percent in urban areas,” reads the ZIMSTAT report.
Looking at the same component province by province ZIMSTAT noted: “The proportion was 2.2 percent for Mashonaland Central province, 1.7 percent for Manicaland province and 0.3 percent for Matabeleland South province.”
