Twenty thousand underage girls ‘marry illegally every day’

World Bank says one in three girls in developing world is victim of underage marriage

A 15-year-old girl prepares for her wedding in Bangladesh
(Image credit: Allison Joyce/Getty Images)

More than 20,000 underage girls marry illegally around the world each day, according to analysis by the World Bank and Save the Children.

That means 7.5 million girls each year are married below the minimum age permitted in their respective countries. One in every three girls in the developing world marry before they are 18.

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