Pakistan has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. UNICEF estimates that Pakistan has the sixth highest number of women married before the age of 18 in the world. According to UNICEF, Pakistan is home to nearly 19 million child brides; 1 in 6 young women were married in childhood.
According to the Pakistan Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2017-18, 3.6 percent of girls under 15 are married and 18.3 percent of girls under 18 are married in Pakistan. The PDHS 2017-18 survey also shows that 8 percent of adolescent women aged 15-19 in Pakistan are already mothers or pregnant with their first child.
Source: UNICEF
A study titled ‘Diagnostic Study of Nikkahnamas in Punjab’ was conducted by the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and Musawi in 2023. The diagnostic analysis of nikkahnamas was conducted on the sample of 1,100 nikkahnamas, with 493 from 8 union councils in Lahore and 607 from 7 Union Councils in Pakpattan. The analysis reveals the presence of child marriages in Pakpattan. A total of 10 out of 607 nikkahnamas in Pakpattan recorded either the age of the bride as under 16 years or the groom under 18 years. This reflects solemnisation/ officiation of child marriages is 1.6% from the sample size from Pakpattan, in contravention of Section 5 of the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929. The same violation was not found in any of the nikkahnamas from the Lahore Diagnostic sample, however the bride’s CNIC was missing from 16% of the nikkahnamas in Lahore, while the groom’s CNIC was missing from 10% of the nikkahnamas. In comparison, 48% of the nikkahnamas analysed from Pakpattan did not record the CNIC details of the bride and 19% did not record the CNIC etails of groom. This gap in recording of CNIC details suggests potential solemnisation of child marriages, as no means exist to verify and corroborate the age of the bride and groom recorded in the nikkahnama.