Launch of reports on costing child marriage

In 2020, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund, Arab States Regional Office (UNFPA ASRO), United Nations Children's Fund, Middle East and North Africa Regional Office (UNICEF MENARO) and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, Regional Office for Arab States (UN Women ROAS), undertook a background study to investigate the feasibility of developing a methodology for estimating the cost of child marriage in the Arab region. Based on this feasibility study, two more in-depth reports were issued: The Cost of Child Marriage over the Life Cycle of Girls and Women: Evidence from Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia and Estimating the Economic Costs of Child Marriage in the Arab Region.

The first report studied the costs of child marriage borne by women and girls in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan and Tunisia. Building on this report, the second report extended the findings to measure the economic costs of child marriage for 13 out of 22 Arab States for which relevant data was available. It discovered that the Arab region is estimated to lose at least 3% of its GDP by 2050 if targeted interventions such as improved family planning and healthcare, improved education opportunities and ensure that girls stay in school, improved job opportunities for women, localized interventions in ‘hotspot’ areas, and timely and targeted data collection, do not take place.