16-year-old wives and mothers: child marriages in Lithuania are gradually disappearing, but are still happening | You know



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The vast majority of married minors are girls. At the altar in 2019. 29 teenagers and only 5 boys walked.

For one in 2019 the married girl was 15 years old or younger. 13 girls were sixteen, 15 girls seventeen.

As for the boys, one in five was sixteen and four seventeen.

In cities, according to data from the Department of Statistics, in 2019. There were 14 marriages of minors in 2018 and 20 in rural areas. Compared to 2018, the number of marriages of minors decreased by nine in urban areas and did not change in the rural zones.

In the long run, it has increased tenfold.

Looking at long-term trends, it can be seen that child marriages in Lithuania are declining quite fast, in cities they are declining faster than in rural areas.

2019 There were 34 marriages in Lithuania, in which at least one of the spouses was a minor. This is half that in 2014, when 74 such marriages occurred. And three and a half times less than in 2009, when 122 such marriages were celebrated.

In 2000, when those statistics began to be maintained, there were 374 marriages, and since then the number of child marriages in Lithuania has decreased more than tenfold.

What is the situation when comparing towns with cities? A couple of years ago, when a similar article was written, it seemed that youth marriages in the villages had stopped declining. However, it can be seen that such marriages are now decreasing in them as well.

In marriages in which at least one person would be minor, in 2000 it was 194 in 2009. It was 61 in 2014. – 36, or 2019 m. – only 14.

Thus, in almost twenty years, child marriages in cities have decreased more than ten times, and in five years, almost three times.

In rural areas in 2000 married 180 minors, 2009 married 61 minors, 2014 – 38 and 2019. – 20. The number of such marriages has decreased nine times in almost twenty years, and approximately twice in five years.

It is worth noting that, although in absolute terms the difference between urban and rural marriages of minors appears to be similar, the relative difference is much larger.

In Lithuanian cities in 2019. At the beginning of the year, there were approximately twice as many people as in rural areas: 1.87 million. people in cities and 919 thousand. people in villages.

In cities in 2019 In 2019, 13,555 marriages and 5,947 were carried out in rural areas. There were 968 adult marriages in the city and 297 adult marriages in the countryside.

Consequently, youth marriages are more than three times more common in rural areas than in cities.

What’s even more interesting is that the 5 married minor men, although few appear to be, are the highest number since 2014. Or 2017 there were no minor child marriages at all.

Number of married minors younger than 16, 2000–2019 decreased from 20 to 1 during the period.

Youth pregnancies are also declining

In Lithuania, marriages are allowed from the age of 18, but the Civil Code leaves the possibility for the court to reduce the marital age. The minor must request this. The court must take several criteria into account when deciding whether to reduce the marital age.

Separately, the Code emphasizes that pregnancy is considered an important reason to reduce marital age. And experts point out that the most common cause of minor marriages is unplanned pregnancy and subsequent childbirth. What is the situation in this area?

Fotolia photo / Pregnant woman.

Fotolia photo / Pregnant woman.

The Statistics Department provides statistics on the first-born mothers of minors. It is true that these statistics have not yet been updated in 2019. data

According to these data, in 2018, minors gave birth to 173 babies who were their first children. 169 were born to girls between the ages of 15 and 17, and another 4 were born to mothers under the age of 15.

Compared to previous years, the situation has also improved: in 2017, 211 girls under the age of 18 had their first child. Therefore, the number of births decreased by about a fifth during the year.

Looking at the long term, the trend is even more visible: in 2014, 293 children were born to minors. Therefore, such births since 2014. decreased by approximately 40 percent.

It is true that the statistics more frequently take a slightly broader sample of 15 to 19 years than 15 to 17 years, with 18 and 19 years classified as adolescents. The Department of Statistics also provided birth statistics for this age group: in 2018, according to the Department, they gave birth to 762 girls in this age group.

Last year, 875 children were born to mothers ages 15-19, so the number of births decreased by about 13 percent.

The number of births in this age group has declined steadily and has dropped nearly four times in 15 years. 2003 mothers in this age group gave birth to 2,775 babies; – 2263, 2013 – 1262.

The number of abortions in 2018 compared to 2017 increased slightly. 2018 In Lithuania, 57 artificial abortions were performed on underage girls (by decision of a woman or by medical indications). – 52 induced abortions.

But following long-term trends, the number of juvenile abortions is decreasing: in 2013, minors were performed in 109, 2009. – 150 abortions. Thus, the number of juvenile abortions has almost tripled in 9 years.

Taking a slightly broader age group of 15-19, you can see that in 2018. 180 abortions were performed in Lithuania. In the long run, the number of abortions in this age group decreased significantly: in 2008. 783 abortions were performed on girls in this age group, and in 1998 – net 1,458.



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