The DHS Program

Environmental Factors That Affect Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Harnessing Evidence from the 2017-18 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey (English) 

Document Type

Working Papers

Publication Topic(s)

Climate and environment, Geographic Information

Country(s)

Bangladesh

Survey

Bangladesh DHS, 2017-18

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Hossain, M. I., K. L. D. MacQuarrie, and R. Donohue. 2024. Environmental Factors That Affect Child Marriage in Bangladesh: Harnessing Evidence from the 2017–18 Bangladesh Demographic and Health Survey. DHS Working Papers No. 197. Rockville, Maryland, USA: ICF.

Download Citation

RIS format / Text format / Endnote format

Publication Date

September 2024

Publication ID

WP197

Abstract:

Millions of teenage girls are affected by the global issue of child marriage, which is a violation of human rights. Compared to their unmarried peers, girls who marry young face disadvantages such as social exclusion, poverty, and inadequate education. In Bangladesh, the effects of climate change are prevalent. The low-lying coastal towns near the Bay of Bengal are vulnerable to rising sea levels. The result of this is flooding, river erosion, evidence of waterlogging, and rising soil and water salinity in some areas of Bangladesh. Poverty and economic instability are commonly understood to be the main drivers of child marriage. However, despite growing interest in the link between climate vulnerability and child marriage, little research is available on this topic. This paper examines how recent environmental changes may have affected the prevalence of child marriage in Bangladesh. The study found that, among women age 20–49, the prevalence of child marriage was lower in Sylhet Division than in the other seven divisions in Bangladesh. Clusters from the coastal areas of Khulna, Barishal, and Chattogram and clusters from the northeast regions and from Sylhet had higher scores on the climate vulnerability index (CVI) than other clusters. We also found a correlation between the CVI developed in this study and the prevalence of child marriage, although the magnitude of this association varied by division. CVI was most strongly correlated with child marriage in Barishal and Rangpur, which are disaster prone in the context of coastal and drought conditions. Nationally, the correlation coefficient for the relationship between CVI and child marriage was almost 18% and highly significant (p < .001).