It is impossible to know exactly how many girls end up in child marriage because many are not registered.
But according to Unicef's estimates, about 12 million girls marry before their 18th birthday each year.
According to Save the Children, two and a half million more girls are at risk of ending up in child marriage during the next five years due to the Corona pandemic.
And this year alone, teenage pregnancies have increased by about one million cases.
Teenage pregnancies have increased by one million
- Save the Children world sees how more and more girls are affected by child marriage, which is one of several signs that inequality is increasing and that development is going in the wrong direction, says Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen, international manager at Save the Children.
Many bridesmaids end up in marriage with both mental and physical violence.
In addition, early pregnancies are very risky.
For girls between the ages of 15 and 19, maternal mortality is the most common cause of death.
Girls' rights hard hit
Before the pandemic, child marriage had declined for several decades in large parts of the world, partly due to active work to change attitudes in society and economic conditions to get more girls to go to school.
But in the wake of the Corona pandemic, both the restrictions and the economic consequences have hit girls' rights hard.
- Not everyone is equal in the face of the pandemic's consequences.
With schools closing around the world for a long time, we see how the most vulnerable girls get increased household chores, risk teenage pregnancies and getting married, says Cecilia Chatterjee-Martinsen, international manager at Save the Children.