Age at Marriage INDIA

Average age at marriage

2001
Source: 2001 Census
Age at
State/Union Territory Female Male Gap in age
at marriage
Years above /
below legal age

Female Male
Marriage
Andaman & Nicobar Is. 19.6 25.4 5.8 1.6 4.4
Andhra Pradesh 17.5 22.5 5.0 -0.5 1.5
Arunachal Pradesh 19.6 23.8 4.2 1.6 2.8
Assam 19.7 25.7 6.0 1.7 4.7
Bihar 17.2 20.6 3.4 -0.8 -0.4
Chandigarh 20.0 23.5 3.5 2.0 2.5
Chhattisgarh 17.6 20.9 3.3 -0.4 -0.1
Dadra & Nagar Haveli 18.8 21.5 2.7 0.8 0.5
Daman & Diu 19.4 22.9 3.5 1.4 1.9
Delhi 19.2 23.1 3.9 1.2 2.1
Goa 22.2 27.4 5.2 4.2 6.4
Gujarat 19.2 22.1 2.9 1.2 1.1
Haryana 18.0 21.6 3.6 0.0 0.6
Himachal Pradesh 19.1 23.8 4.7 1.1 2.8
Jammu & Kashmir 20.1 23.7 3.6 2.1 2.7 “Premature pregnancy and motherhood are an inevitable consequence
Jharkhand 17.6 21.8 4.2 -0.4 0.8 of child marriage… Girls under 15 are five times more likely to die during
Karnataka 18.9 24.9 6.0 0.9 3.9 pregnancy and childbirth than women in their twenties.” SOWC 2007
Kerala 20.8 27.1 6.3 2.8 6.1
While the average age at marriage in India has been rising slowly over
Lakshadweep 19.1 25.0 5.9 1.1 4.0
the past twenty years, the practice of child marriage is still widespread
Madhya Pradesh 17.0 20.4 3.4 -1.0 -0.6
and young girls suffer most as a result of it. With early and closely
Maharashtra 18.8 23.5 4.7 0.8 2.5 timed pregnancies before their bodies are sufficiently mature,
Manipur 21.5 25.5 4.0 3.5 4.5 adolescent mothers frequently give birth prematurely and to low birth
Meghalaya 20.5 24.8 4.3 2.5 3.8 weight babies. The health of mother and child is severely endangered
Mizoram 21.8 25.3 3.5 3.8 4.3 and often permanently damaged. Many do not survive. Girls who marry
Nagaland 21.6 25.7 4.1 3.6 4.7 at a very young age are also more vulnerable to domestic violence,
sexual abuse and are less likely to complete primary education.
Orissa 18.9 23.9 5.0 0.9 2.9
Pondicherry 20.0 26.4 6.4 2.0 5.4
Punjab 20.5 23.4 2.9 2.5 2.4 INDIA in the world: Age at Marriage
Rajasthan 16.6 19.9 3.3 -1.4 -1.1 Singulate mean age at marriage for females 1996–2001
Sikkim 20.2 24.2 4.0 2.2 3.2 Selected countries
Sources: UNSTATS;
Tamil Nadu 19.9 25.5 5.6 1.9 4.5 2001 Census
26
Tripura 19.3 25.6 6.3 1.3 4.6 23 23 23
20 21 21
Uttar Pradesh 17.5 20.1 2.6 -0.5 -0.9 19
Uttaranchal 18.5 23.0 4.5 0.5 2.0
West Bengal 18.4 24.5 6.1 0.4 3.5
India 18.3 22.6 4.3 0.3 1.6

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 Age at Marriage Proposed legislation
Average female age Infant Mortality Rate The Government of India has
at marriage per 1,000 live births proposed the introduction of
2001 By state 2005
new legislation on child
India average: 18.3 India average: 58
marriage that would include
50
under 18 IMR where marriage age provisions for compulsory
JAMMU JAMMU
AND KASHMIR is below legal age of 18 AND KASHMIR registration of adult marriages,
18.0–18.9 recording of child marriages
IMR where marriage age is
above legal age of 18
and creation of ‘child marriage
HIMACHAL 19.0–19.9
44 PRADESH
HIMACHAL
prevention officers’.
PUNJAB 49 20 and over PRADESH
19 CHANDIGARH
UTTARANCHAL
Source: Sample Registration PUNJAB
System CHANDIGARH UTTARANCHAL
HARYANA 42 Source: 2001 Census
60 35 HARYANA
ARUNACHAL
DELHI PRADESH
UTTAR SIKKIM DELHI ARUNACHAL
37 PRADESH
68 PRADESH SIKKIM
30 UTTAR
PRADESH
RAJASTHAN 73 ASSAM 68 NAGALAND

18 ASSAM
61 MEGHALAYA 49 RAJASTHAN NAGALAND
BIHAR
13 BIHAR MEGHALAYA
TRIPURA
JHARKHAND WEST MANIPUR MANIPUR
54 76 BENGAL 31
50 MIZORAM JHARKHAND WEST TRIPURA
GUJARAT 63 38 GUJARAT
BENGAL
MADHYA PRADESH
20 MIZORAM
MADHYA PRADESH
CHHATTISGARH
75
CHHATTISGARH
DAMAN ORISSA
28 AND DIU
ORISSA
MAHARASHTRA DAMAN
DADRA AND 42 AND DIU MAHARASHTRA
NAGAR HAVELI 36
DADRA AND
57 NAGAR HAVELI

ANDHRA
PRADESH
ANDHRA In ANDAMAN
16 GOA 27 PRADESH Rajasthan, AND NICOBAR
ANDAMAN ISLANDS
AND NICOBAR GOA 41% of adolescent
50
ISLANDS girls aged between
KARNATAKA
15 and 19
KARNATAKA
One are married
28 PONDICHERRY
in four adolescent
TAMIL NADU PONDICHERRY
14 girls between 15
LAKSHADWEEP 37 LAKSHADWEEP
and 19 years of age TAMIL NADU
22 KERALA Age at Marriage
in India is
KERALA
married Average female age at marriage
2001 By district
Punjab under 16
Trends in age at Although Punjab is one of India’s wealthier
marriage 16.0–17.9
states, the proportion of girls getting married
Average marriage age 19.6
of currently married before the legal age of 18 has dramatically 18.0–19.9
women 19.1 increased over the past 7 years, from
20 and over
1981–2001 12 per cent in 1998–1999 to 19 per cent in
By year of marriage 18.3 2005–2006. This could be one of the first signs no data
Source: 2001 Census 18.0 of the fallout of Punjab’s rapidly declining girl
to boy child sex ratio. Source: 2001 Census
17.5
1981–86 1986–91 1991–96 1996–2001