Child marriage, defined as a formal marriage or informal union before age 18, is a global issue impacting the lives of millions of girls each year and hindering progress towards development the world over. Globally, more than 700 million girls and women alive today were married as children. More than one in three of these (about 250 million) entered into union before age 15. This report to the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation covers the period of 2015 to 2017.

This is the fourth chapter of Costing the Three Transformative Results, which focuses on new research to estimate the costs associated the global effort led by UNFPA towards: (a) ending preventable maternal deaths, (b) ending the unmet need for family planning, (c) ending gender-based violence and all harmful practices, including child marriage and female genital mutilation.

This chapter focuses on the estimated cost of ending child marriage. It was compiled by UNFPA partners at Victoria University.