43pc rural, 65pc urban women married before 18

A latest study of icddr,b has found an alarming picture of early marriage, intimate partner violence, and high rates of mistimed pregnancies among newlywed couples in informal settlements of Bangladesh.

The two-year cohort study, conducted by AdSEARCH of icddr,b, revealed on Wednesday that among the participating women, 43 per cent in rural areas and 65 per cent in urban informal settlements were married before the age of 18.

Within the first year of marriage, nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of women became pregnant, despite many women, particularly those living in urban informal settlements, expressing a clear desire to delay childbearing. Nearly half of these pregnancies were mistimed or unintended, it added.

The study also revealed a troubling prevalence of intimate partner violence. Within the first six months of marriage, four in five women reported experiencing controlling behaviours from their husbands. Over the two years, more than half of the women experienced economic violence, while a substantial proportion reported emotional, physical, and sexual violence.

The mixed-method study was conducted from December 2022 to December 2024 at four Health and Demographic Surveillance System sites of icddr,b - Chakaria and Matlab in rural areas, and Mirpur and Korail slums in urban informal settlements.

A total of 666 newlywed couples were enrolled. Among the women, 43 per cent in rural areas and 65 per cent in urban informal settlements were married before the age of 18. Among men, 15 per cent in rural areas and 37 per cent in urban areas were married before the age of 21.

Nearly half of the women had not completed secondary school, and 60 per cent of rural women and 66 per cent of urban women discontinued their education immediately after marriage.

The study recorded a high rate (47 per cent) of mistimed pregnancies. Urban participants were more than three times as likely as rural participants to report a mistimed pregnancy.

Contraceptive use showed an initial rural-urban difference, higher among urban couples and lower among rural ones; but stabilised across both groups after roughly eighteen months of marriage.

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