Knowledge Brief Health, Nutrition and Population Global Practice BASIC PROFILE OF CHILD MARRIAGE IN GUINEA Chata Malé and Quentin Wodon March 2016 Child Marriage Series with Education Global Practice KEY MESSAGES:  Measures of child marriage are high in Guinea. The share of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 51.1 percent, but it has declined over time. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age of 15, has also declined, although not very rapidly.  Child marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education levels, and higher labor force participation. These are however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. In order to design programs and policies to reduce child Box 1: Brief and Series Primer marriage, information is needed on the trend in the How is child marriage defined? Child marriage is defined as a practice over time, where it is most prevalent in a country, marriage or union taking place before the age of 18. and what the characteristics of girls marrying early are. Why a series on child marriage? Child marriage has Measuring child marriage is needed to inform policy. significant negative impacts – not only for girls, but also for a range of development outcomes. Demonstrating these impacts Child marriage is recognized as a major development will assist governments and others to make the case for intervening to reduce the practice. issue that affects girls in many developing countries. The practice has been linked to a number of health risks, What are the topics discussed in the series? The series higher fertility, and lower education attainment, among looks at the impacts of child marriage on health, population, others. The negative impact of child marriage on a wide education, employment, agency, and violence, among other range of development outcomes explains why in many outcomes. The welfare, budget, and non-monetary costs of child countries child marriage is now prohibited by law, and marriage are estimated. Legal/institutional aspects and options why the elimination of child marriage is part of the new to reduce the practice are also discussed. Sustainable Development Goals. Yet more is needed to eliminate the practice than adopting laws. In order to What is the question asked in this brief? The question is: How widespread is the practice, not only in terms of the share of inform program and policies to reduce the practice, this girls marrying early, but also in terms of how early they marry? brief provides a basic profile of child marriage in Guinea. The brief is part of a series of standardized briefs on this How is the question answered? Measures and a profile of topic for several countries. child marriage inspired by the literature on poverty are provided. Page 1 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  One in two women in Guinea still marry early. but it will also have other negative consequences for her as well as for her children. The analysis is based on data from the 2012 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) for Guinea. This Most studies on child marriage report the incidence of is the latest DHS available. Table 1 provides basic child marriage - the share of girls who marry early (before statistics on the age at first marriage for women. Two 18), sometimes also with the share of girls who marry samples are considered: women ages 18 to 22, which is very early, before age 15. Such statistics are useful, but the youngest age group that can be used to measure they do not capture the “depth” and “severity” of the child marriage in the country1, and women ages 18-49 practice very well. Better measures of child marriage can (the women’s questionnaire in the DHS collects data for be adopted from the poverty literature (Ngyuen and women up to age 49). Clearly, a large share of women Wodon (2012). Three measures are used here: the marry below the age of 18, and many do so before the incidence of child marriage or headcount index, the child age of 15, but there are some differences in the likelihood marriage gap, and the squared child marriage gap. of marrying as children between the two groups. This Definitions of these measures is provided in the annex. suggests that child marriage may have decreased over The measures are estimated for child marriage as well as time, but not substantially so, as will be discussed below. very early marriage defined as marrying before age 15. Table 1: Age at First Marriage for Women (%) The child marriage gap represents the “depth” of child 18-22 years 18-49 years marriage. It takes into account not only the share of girls Not Married 37.8 14.2 who marry early, but also the mean number of years of 18 or Above 11.2 29.2 early marriage. When using the child marriage gap for the Below 12 1.2 1.7 evaluation of programs or policies, instead of simply 12 3.5 4.2 looking at the share of the girls who marry early, more 13 6.3 8.0 14 9.8 11.2 weight is placed on the girls who marry at a very young 15 11.7 11.9 age. While the child marriage gap takes into account the 16 9.7 10.3 average number of years of early marriage for girls who 17 9.0 9.5 marry early, the squared gap takes into account the Total 100.0 100.0 square of that number, thereby putting even more Mean age at first marriage 15.5 16.8 emphasis on girls who marry very early and taking into Source: Authors’ estimation. account inequality in the age of marriage among girls marrying early. The consequences of child marriage are not the same whether girls marry at 12 or 17. Measures inspired from The incidence of child marriage in Guinea in 2012 was the poverty literature help in capturing better how early lower than that observed 25 years ago. There has been a girls marry (see the annex). The headcount (H) measures reduction in how early girls marry, but in a limited way. the share of girls who marry early. The child marriage gap (CMG) measures the “depth” of the practice, taking into Child marriage has been reduced over time. account how early girls marry. The squared gap (SG) puts even more weight on the girls who marry very early. Table 2 provides trends over time in the measures of child marriage inspired by the poverty literature. Consider first Beyond the share of girls who marry early, other the age group 18-22. In that age group more than half of measures of child marriage are also important. girls marry before the age of 18 (51.1 percent for the 18- 22 age group). The child marriage gap (CMG) is at 9.1 The negative impact of child marriage for a girl’s health, percent and the squared gap (SG) at 2.0 percent for that education, and well-being is often larger when the girl group. By estimating the same measures on older groups, marries very early. For example, child marriage is known the table provides the trend in child marriage over time. to have a negative impact on school enrollment and When considering the 18 years threshold, there has been attainment. The earlier a girl marries, the more likely it is a decline in the headcount, as well as for other measures, that she will drop out early and thereby have a low level of suggesting that girls tend to marry less early when they education attainment. This will not only limit her marry as children. Nevertheless, the gains remain limited. employment and earnings potential for the rest of her life, The fact that girls who marry early may marry slightly less 1 early is confirmed by the measures based on the 15 years Child marriage measures must be estimated on the population older than 18, because some younger girls not yet married in the age threshold which also suggest a decline in the survey could still get married by age 18. It is best to measure headcount for those measures. Still, overall, the share of child marriage as early as possible after the age of 18 to provide girls marrying as children has decreased by only nine data on conditions as current as possible, which is why the age percentage points over the last 25 years (the approximate bracket 18-22 is used here. Page 2 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  time gap between the first and last age group), and the with men who have similar socio-economic profiles, so the decline for extreme child marriage (15 years threshold) is quintile after marriage may not be that different from the limited at seven percentage points2. quintile before. Also, for younger women, assets and wealth may be lower than for older women. In Guinea, the Table 2: Trend in Child and Very Early Marriage (%) measures of child marriage differ by quintile, but it is only 18 years 15 years in the top two quintiles of wealth, and especially in the top H CMG SG H CMG SG quintile, that child marriage is much less prevalent. All 18-49 years 56.7 10.4 2.4 25.1 3.1 0.5 Age group Table 4: Child Marriage by Quintile, Age 18-22 (%) 18-22 years 51.1 9.1 2.0 20.7 2.5 0.4 18 years 15 years 23-30 years 56.5 10.5 2.4 25.2 3.2 0.5 H CMG SG H CMG SG 31-40 years 60.1 11.2 2.6 27.6 3.4 0.5 All 18-22 years 51.1 9.1 2.0 20.7 2.5 0.4 41-49 years 60.1 11.0 2.5 27.4 3.4 0.5 Wealth quintiles Source: Authors’ estimation. Poorest 73.4 12.7 2.8 26.5 3.3 0.5 Poorer 70.6 14.2 3.4 36.3 4.7 0.8 Girls are more likely to marry early if they live in rural Middle 59.7 10.6 2.4 24.2 3.0 0.5 areas and are from poorer socio-economic groups. Richer 46.7 7.8 1.6 17.8 2.0 0.3 Richest 22.8 3.6 0.7 7.2 0.7 0.1 Child marriage is more prevalent in rural than in urban Source: Authors’ estimation. areas. There are also differences between regions, with the lowest measures observed in Conakry and the highest Child marriage is associated with lower education measures observed (according to the headcount index for attainment and a lower likelihood of literacy. the 18 years threshold) in the Kankan and Faranah regions, followed by the Mamou, Kindia, Boké and Labé Table 5 provides data on child marriage by level of regions. Child marriage is less prevalent in N'Zérékoré. education of the women, as well as literacy. Child The ranking of the regions in terms of the measures marriage affects education attainment negatively, obtained with the 15 and 18 years thresholds tends to be because girls often drop out of school when they marry. similar, although not exactly the same. The causality goes the other way as well, as the ability to pursue one’s education may help delay the age at Rural girls are much more likely to marry early than urban marriage. This relationship between education and child girls. Girls from the bottom four quintiles of wealth are marriage is apparent in the data, in that the measures of much more likely to marry than girls from the top quintile. child marriage tend to be higher among women with lower levels of education. The same relationship is observed when considering literacy where three categories are Table 3: Child Marriage by Location, Age 18-22 (%) considered: the woman cannot read at all, can read part 18 years 15 years of a sentence, or can read a full sentence. H CMG SG H CMG SG All 18-22 years 51.1 9.1 2.0 20.7 2.5 0.4 Region The relationship between child marriage and schooling is Boké 55.8 10.0 2.1 22.3 2.4 0.3 important for policy as the causality goes both ways. Child Conakry 26.6 4.2 0.8 9.4 0.8 0.1 marriage may lead to dropouts and lower education Faranah 63.6 12.0 2.8 28.5 3.6 0.6 attainment. But the reverse is true as well: keeping girls in Kankan 71.6 12.2 2.6 27.7 3.2 0.5 school is often one of the best ways to delay marriage. Kindia 56.2 10.2 2.3 24.3 3.0 0.5 Labé 54.6 9.0 1.9 18.3 2.1 0.3 Mamou 61.9 12.3 3.1 30.5 4.4 0.8 Marrying between the ages of 15 and 17 tends to affect N'Zérékoré 51.8 9.6 2.2 21.6 2.9 0.5 primarily secondary education enrollment or completion, Residence and may not necessarily affect the completion of primary Urban 30.8 5.0 1.0 11.3 1.2 0.1 education. But marrying even earlier can also prevent Rural 65.5 12.0 2.7 27.4 3.5 0.6 girls from completing their primary education (primary Source: Authors’ estimation. school takes in principle six years to complete, but some students start primary school late and may also repeat Household welfare is measured through a wealth index grades, so the actual age of completion may be delayed). with households categorized in five quintiles from poorest to richest. For most women the level of wealth observed is that of the household in which they married, not their household or origin, but it is likely that many women marry 2 These measures have standard errors (not shown to save space). Some differences may not be statistically significant. Page 3 HNPGP Knowledge Brief  Table 5: Child Marriage by Education Level and Conclusion Literacy Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years This brief has provided a basic profile of child marriage in H CMG SG H CMG SG Guinea. Measures of child marriage are high. The share All 18-22 years 51.1 9.1 2.0 20.7 2.5 0.4 of women ages 18-22 who married as children is 51.1 Education percent, but it has declined over time, but not dramatically No education 69.8 13.1 3.0 32.1 3.9 0.6 so. The share of girls marrying very early, before the age Primary, some 53.8 8.5 1.8 16.5 2.0 0.3 of 15, has also declined, but not very rapidly either. Child Primary, compl. 51.1 7.6 1.5 14.8 1.7 0.2 marriage is associated with lower wealth, lower education Secondary, some 22.2 3.5 0.7 6.0 0.7 0.1 Secondary, compl. 12.9 1.7 0.3 2.0 0.3 - levels, and higher labor force participation. These are Higher 7.7 0.9 0.1 0.4 - - however only correlations, not necessarily causal effects. Literacy Other briefs in this series look at potential causal effects. Cannot read 67.2 12.4 2.8 29.9 3.6 0.6 Limited ability 46.6 6.2 1.0 6.1 0.7 0.1 References Full sentence 21.0 3.2 0.6 5.2 0.6 0.1 Source: Authors’ estimation. Values rounding to 0.0 not shown. Foster, J., J. Greer, and E. Thorbecke, 1984, A Class of Decomposable Poverty Measures, Econometrica 52: 761–776. Relationships between child marriage and labor force participation can be complex and depend on context. Nguyen, M. C., and Q. Wodon, 2012, Measuring Child Marriage, Economics Bulletin 32(1): 398-411. Table 6 provides data on labor force participation. In some countries child marriage may reduce labor force Annex: Methodological Note participation through higher fertility. In others, if child The headcount index, child marriage gap, and squared child marriage is associated with poverty, women may leave marriage gap are the first three measures of the so-called FGT little choice but to work. Other effects could be at work, so class (Foster et al., 2014). Denote by q the number of girls who that the relationship between child marriage and labor marry early and by n the number of girls in the overall force participation is complex. In Guinea, child marriage population. Denote by yi the age of marriage of girl i and by z measures are lower for women not working, suggesting a the age threshold defining child marriage (18 years of age, but a positive association between child marriage and work. In lower age threshold can also be used to measure extreme child addition, the type of work associated most with child marriage). The general formula for the FGT class of measures marriage is work without cash earnings, which may be depends on a parameter α which takes a value of zero for the work with low productivity. These basic statistics however headcount, one for the child marriage gap, and two for the squared child marriage gap in the following expression: do not imply causality.  1 q  z  yi  Table 6: Child Marriage by Labor Force Participation P   z  n i1   Status, Age 18-22 (%) 18 years 15 years H CMG SG H CMG SG This brief was produced as part of the Economic Impacts of Child All 18-22 years 51.1 9.1 2.0 20.7 2.5 0.4 Marriage study, a joint project of the International Center for Research Working on Women (ICRW) and the World Bank, which is supported by the Bill & No 34.6 5.7 1.2 12.9 1.4 0.2 Melinda Gates Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF). More details on the research can be found at the Yes 61.3 11.2 2.5 25.6 3.2 0.5 project’s website: www.costsofchildmarriage.org. Partial funding for the Type of work work related to child marriage and education, labor force participation, Not paid 55.5 10.2 2.3 22.8 2.9 0.5 earnings, and program responses has been provided by the Global Cash only 53.4 9.2 2.0 20.2 2.4 0.3 Partnership for Education. Comments from Jeff Edmeades and Cash and in-kind 82.8 16.0 3.8 39.6 5.1 0.8 Margareta Norris Harrit are gratefully acknowledged. The opinions In-kind only 71.8 12.6 2.8 26.7 3.4 0.5 expressed in this brief are those of the authors only and need not reflect Source: Authors’ estimation. the views of the World Bank, its Executive Directors, of the countries they represent. The Health, Nutrition and Population Knowledge Briefs of the World Bank are a quick reference on the essentials of specific HNP-related topics summarizing new findings and information. These may highlight an issue and key interventions proven to be effective in improving health, or disseminate new findings and lessons learned from the regions. For more information on this topic, go to: www.worldbank.org/health. Page 4