UNICEF, estimates more than 650 million women alive today were married before the age of 18. In 2016, another 5.6 million girls under the age of 18 become child brides.

38%of young women in sub-Saharan Africa married before age 18. Early and Forced marriages remain a major concern in Cameroon and according to figures from the country’s Ministry of Women’s Empowerment and the Family; at least 41 percent of Cameroonian teenage girls are forced into marriage, usually with much older men. The situation is more preoccupying in the Far Northern Regions where about 80% of women marry prematurely. 

 Marriage before the age of 18 – is a human rights violation. Despite laws against it, the harmful practice remains widespread and can lead to a lifetime of suffering. Girls who marry before they turn 18 are less likely to remain in school and more likely to experience domestic violence. Young teenage girls are more likely to die due to complications in pregnancy and childbirth than women in their 20s, and their children are more likely to be stillborn or die in the first month of life. Indigenous girls are more vulnerable due to the weight of culture and tradition.