Nearly half of Bangladeshi girls are married before they turn 18, UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Tuesday, calling on the government to turn its spending pledges into action.
According to the Bangladesh Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2025, 47.2 percent of women aged 20 to 24 were married before reaching 18. Russell said child marriage ends girls’ schooling, raises the risk of early pregnancy and limits their chances in life.
She made the remarks at the end of a three-day visit, during which she met families in Korail, Dhaka’s largest slum, and Rohingya refugees and host community members in Cox’s Bazar.
Russell urged Bangladesh to end child marriage and keep girls in school, deliver on its pledge to invest 5 percent of gross domestic product in education and health, and ensure quality education for Rohingya refugee and host community children.
She met State Minister for Foreign Affairs Shama Obaed Islam, praising the government’s commitment to raise the education and health budget and pressing for its implementation. “Budgets reveal priorities,” she said. “Investing in children’s quality education, health, nutrition and protection is investing in Bangladesh’s future.”
In Korail, Russell met 14-year-old Bushra, whose early marriage was averted after community leaders at a UNICEF-supported child protection hub worked with her father. “Keeping girls in school and providing them with the health, education and protection services they need will deliver on a brighter future for them, their communities and Bangladesh,” Russell said.
Praising Bangladesh for hosting Rohingya refugees, she said the children had already lost much to violence, displacement and uncertainty and must not be deprived of education as well. “The world must invest in them, and in the communities that welcomed them,” she said.
In Bangladesh, early marriage (child marriage) generally means marriage before the age of 18 for girls and before the age of 21 for boys under Bangladeshi law.
The number of early marriages is usually reported as a percentage of people who married before the legal age, rather than as a total number of marriages each year.