Thursday, September 6, 2012

%10 Increase in Early Marriage in Yemen

So heartbreaking! It's estimated that the number of child marriages has increased by about %10 because of the food/poverty crisis, Oxfam says.

A recent Oxfam study indicates that more than half of Yemeni women get married before they are 18, and that the average age is just 14. Getting married at a young age is one of the main causes of high maternal mortality in Yemen – about eight women die every day during childbirth, and for every 100,000 live births, 366 women die. Around 19% of maternal deaths occur in women aged 15-19. Yemen has one of the highest birth rates in the world – the average Yemeni woman has seven children.