Over 200 million Indian women were married as children

The global estimate stands at 640 million girls and women who were married before turning 18, with one-third of these cases occurring in India alone. As per the the Sustainable Development Goals report 2024, one in five girls is married before age 18, compared to one in four 25 years ago. This improvement has prevented approximately 68 million child marriages over the past quarter-century. The report also highlights that only 17% of the 169 targets set by the UN to improve global living conditions are on track to be met by the 2030 deadline.