Even though child marriages are declining in some places, they are still happening all over the world. “For example, ten years ago, a South Asian girl's risk of getting married as a child was about 50%, but now that has fallen to about 30%”. South Africa is one of the countries where the numbers are declining, but 30% is still a big number to think about. Even with the declines all over the world, “12 million girls are married in childhood every year, according to UNICEF”. 12 million girls is better than a lot of other numbers but that is a large number of girls being forced all over the world to marry someone they don’t even love and in possibly dangerous situations. These numbers are still quantitative and in some countries, on the rise.
There are many things that can lead to child marriages but many don’t see the effects it can have on these girls. “Many factors interact to place a girl at risk of marriage, including poverty, the perception that marriage will provide ‘protection’, family honour, social norms, customary or religious laws that condone the practice, an inadequate legislative framework and the state of a country’s civil registration system”. Girls getting pregnant early changes their education, social, and overall life and it is probably not what they wanted when they are forced into this. All of these reasons are valid and a lot of the marriages that are happening are happening because of religious or cultural norms across the world. “Kentucky is one of 25 states where a child can marry at any age with certain conditions met. A bill approved by the Kentucky Legislature and headed to the governor's desk would change that, making it illegal for anyone 16 and younger to marry. The bill cleared the Kentucky House of Representatives on Friday”. There are still child marriages in the US too, because with parental or judge consent and loopholes, children are still getting married.