CAIRO: Early marriages in Egypt have reached 15 percent of all marriages in Egypt, mainly in deprived areas, Minister of Population Hala Youssef said in a Thursday statement.
Egypt increased the marriageable age to 18 in 2008; child marriage impedes the state’s effort to promote development and children’s rights, Youssef added.
Giza, Asyut, Sohag and Sharqia governorates have been chosen to determine the scale of child marriage in a step to mainstream the statistics across Egypt in cooperation with the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS.)
Some of the factors leading to early marriage are illiteracy or low-level education, poverty, and a large number of daughters in one family, the minister said.
A total of 25 seminars will be held in Giza in August on the repercussions of child marriage, sexually transmitted diseases, the population crisis in Egypt, and other awareness topics, according to the statement.