Table 3. Bivariate analysis of the association between selected socio-demographic factors and girl-child marriage in 11 West African countries using the most recent country-specific Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) data.
| Percentage of females aged 18–24 years who were married before age 18 | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ghana | Benin | Cote
d’Ivoire |
Senegal | Liberia | Nigeria | Sierra
Leone |
Burkina
Faso |
Guinea | Mali | Niger | |
| Background
characteristics |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
% with
child marriage |
| Residence | |||||||||||
| Rural | 24.3 | 39.1 | 46.5 | 45.6 | 43.7 | 56.1 | 47.7 | 61.2 | 65.9 | 66.4 | 85.6 |
| Urban | 13.6 | 20.0 | 21.3 | 19.6 | 25.6 | 19.6 | 20.2 | 25.6 | 29.9 | 40.3 | 40.7 |
| Chi-Square | 24.60 *** | 97.04 *** | 54.56 *** | 31.32 *** | 38.28 *** | 218.06 *** | 87.49 *** | 224.71 *** | 104.13 *** | 97.31 *** | 274.48 *** |
| Education | |||||||||||
| None | 45.2 | 45.9 | 45.5 | 53.2 | 54.8 | 80.9 | 57.2 | 62.0 | 69.0 | 70.8 | 85.2 |
| Primary | 33.5 | 28.1 | 32.7 | 31.9 | 36.9 | 55.9 | 52.2 | 38.0 | 52.5 | 57.6 | 69.9 |
| Secondary/higher | 12.3 | 9.0 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 20.2 | 14.2 | 16.5 | 15.8 | 18.6 | 27.9 | 30.5 |
| Chi-Square | 76.83 *** | 218.90 *** | 88.42 *** | 87.88 *** | 45.22 *** | 857.12 *** | 215.21 *** | 170.51 *** | 148.60 *** | 115.36 *** | 188.15 *** |
| Religion | |||||||||||
| Christianity | 16.6 | 23.9 | 22.4 | 6.5 | 29.9 | 16.4 | 25.1 | 37.5 | 49.4 | 42.4 | NA |
| Non-Christians b | 27.7 | 38.6 | 40.6 | 32.3 | 44.1 | 62.4 | 39.5 | 55.4 | 50.4 | 59.7 | NA |
| Chi-Square | 15.40 *** | 62.85 *** | 50.96 *** | 25.20 *** | 13.68 ** | 496.17 *** | 27.49 *** | 61.53 *** | 0.03 | 11.76 *** | NA |
| Wealth quintile h | |||||||||||
| Poorest | 31.7 | 48.7 | 58.3 | 59.0 | 47.6 | 81.2 | 52.5 | 66.4 | 74.0 | 71.8 | 85.4 |
| Poorer | 23.5 | 45.0 | 42.4 | 45.6 | 45.7 | 63.2 | 51.5 | 64.0 | 69.5 | 68.2 | 85.5 |
| Middle | 19.0 | 34.8 | 30.7 | 32.9 | 33.0 | 36.5 | 45.1 | 59.9 | 61.1 | 71.9 | 85.7 |
| Richer | 13.7 | 22.8 | 31.1 | 17.6 | 28.5 | 24.7 | 31.1 | 52.2 | 44.7 | 58.1 | 84.8 |
| Richest | 10.2 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 14.0 | 15.1 | 10.3 | 16.9 | 25.9 | 23.2 | 36.6 | 49.2 |
| Chi-Square | 11.05 *** | 67.98 *** | 29.60 *** | 26.22 *** | 16.89 *** | 263.35 *** | 47.49 *** | 71.73 *** | 60.56 *** | 39.29 *** | 58.96 *** |
| Total | |||||||||||
Note: respondents who married before age 18 were categorized as child marriage while those who were still unmarried or married at age 18 or above at the time of the survey were categorized as others.
hhousehold wealth quintile; bNon-Christians include Muslim, traditionalist, animist, no religion; NA data not available
*** p < 0.001; ** p < 0.01; * p < 0.05