Early Marriage among young girls in Eastern Ethiopia: trend during 2008-2018

This
study examined the trend of early marriage among adolescent girls for more than
a decade in eastern Ethiopia. We analyzed data of girls in the age group of
10-17; extracted from the Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System
database for the period of 2008–2018. The annual incidence of early marriage
was calculated per 1000 person-time and Chi-square test for linear trend was
run to examine the change in rates over time. The overall incidence of early
marriage was 40.48/1000 girls per year (95% CI: 39.1–41.9) with increasing
trend over ten years period. Higher incidence of early marriage occurred among
rural resident, illiterate and unemployed girls. The findings show higher
overall incidence of early marriage, its substantial differences among various
socio demographic groups and increasing trend of early marriage incidence.
Efforts are needed to empower rural girls to support them pursue their
education and thereby reduce early marriage.