Drought-Induced Hunger and Displacement Push Families to Marry Off Young Girls to Wealthier Households
The ongoing drought in Ethiopia, the worst the country has seen in 40 years, is causing a dramatic rise in child marriages, according to Unicef. As the region faces widespread hunger, malnutrition, and displacement, many desperate families are turning to early marriages for their daughters as a way to secure dowries, food, and shelter.
The crisis has particularly hit the Oromia region, where cases of child marriage have seen alarming increases. In the East Hararghe zone alone, child marriages rose by 51%, from 70 cases in the same six-month period in 2020-21 to 106 the following year. Across six drought-affected areas of Oromia, child marriage incidents have nearly quadrupled. Between February and August last year, 672 cases were recorded, but from September to March this year, that number surged to 2,282 cases.
Unicef’s executive director, Catherine Russell, expressed deep concern over the situation, highlighting that the drought has caused over 600,000 children to drop out of school. As families continue to grapple with the crisis, the trend of marrying off young girls to wealthier families for survival has become an increasingly common and heartbreaking consequence.
