Tripura occupies the second position in India in terms of child marriages between girls in the age group of 15 to 19 years, an international study has revealed.
The study titled ‘Young Lives’ has been prepared from data taken from National Family Health Survey (NFHS) 2015-2016.
It is a collaborative research project coordinated by a team based at the University of Oxford.
The study reported that the state occupies the second position with respect to the highest prevalence of child marriage among girls aged 15 years to 19 years at 21.6 per cent which is significantly higher than the national average of 11.9 per cent.
During a workshop titled “Development of multi-spectral action plan to child marriage and teenage pregnancy in Tripura”, Young Lives India Coordinator Suntala Khan said that four districts of the state features among the list of top 100 districts in the country where child marriages are a common occurrence.
The four districts include Dhalai, South Tripura, North Tripura and West Tripura.
Dhalai district had 24.7 per cent prevalence of child marriages which was the highest in the state.
The study also revealed 52 per cent of the surveyed girls have been found to be pregnant at least once.
It also found that 52 per cent of married teenage girls had one child, 5.5 per cent had 2 children and one per cent had more than 2 children by the tender age of 19.
Tripura Commission for Protection of Child Rights chairperson Nilima Ghosh said that the rate of child marriage is increasing at an alarming rate in the state.