Lower-income countries and societies with a high prevalence of child marriage had a higher prevalence of physical or sexual intimate partner violence against adolescent girls.Child marriage (before the age of 18 years) significantly escalates risks, since spousal age differences create power imbalances, economic dependency, and social isolation – all of which increase the likelihood of enduring abuse, it said.Based on WHO’s estimates, the worst affected regions are Oceania (47 per cent) and central sub-Saharan Africa (40 per cent), for instance, while the lowest rates are in central Europe (10 per cent) and central Asia (11 per cent).The lowest rate was in Europe where 10 per cent reported incidents and in Central Asia (11 per cent), according to the study, which based its analysis on data from WHO’s global database on the prevalence of violence against women, published in 2018.The study highlights the urgent need to strengthen support services and early prevention measures tailored for adolescents, alongside actions to advance women’s and girls’ agency and rights – from school-based programmes that educate both boys and girls on healthy relationships and violence prevention, to legal protections, and economic empowerment.
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