Dhaka: One under-15 girl is married in every seven seconds globally, according to a new analysis by Save the Children which reveals the scale of the threat posed by child marriage.  

Girls as young as ten are being forced to marry men, often a lot older than themselves, in countries such as Afghanistan, Yemen, India and Somalia.

The report by Save the Children, Every Last Girl: Free to live, free to learn, free from harm, has ranked countries in an index according to child marriage, schooling, teen pregnancy, maternal deaths and number of female lawmakers.

Bangladesh has 20 percent female lawmakers while the under-18 marriage rate is 52.2 percent and schooling under aged 16 is 73.5 percent, the index shows. 

Countries at the bottom of the index include Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Mali and Somalia. Countries at the top include Sweden, Finland, Norway, the Netherlands and Belgium. The UK ranks 15th out of 144 countries.

Save the Children’s new CEO Kevin Watkins said: ‘Child marriage isn’t just a form of discrimination, it’s a form of violence’.

‘Forcing girls to marry much older men robs them of their freedom and amounts to sexual slavery. Instead of being in school, married girls face domestic violence, abuse and rape. They fall pregnant and are exposed to STIs, including HIV. Bearing children before their bodies are ready means girls suffer complicated deliveries and even death.’

The report also reveals that girls from poor families are more likely to be married early than their richer peers.  

India has the highest number of child marriages of any country, partly owing to the large size of its population, with 47 percent of girls married under 18 - around 24.6 million.