Child Marriage Decline: Raising Awareness Is Working

There has been a constant decline in child marriages in Malaysia over the past few years.

Women, family, and community development minister Nancy Shukri recently discussed the data, calling it a “significant downward trend” and noting that child marriages have decreased 37 percent from 2019 to 2023.

Year per year, Malaysia recorded 1,467 child marriages in 2019, 1,354 in 2020, 1,086 in 2021, 1,035 in 2022, and 923 in 2023. The decline is partially thanks to the various programs that have been put in place in Malaysia that help create awareness around sexual and reproductive health and strengthen family institutions. Currently, only two of Malaysia’s 13 states have officially raised the minimum marriage age to 18 across all groups of women. The other states typically have the minimum age set at 18 for Muslim men but 16 for Muslim women, or even younger if approved by a chief minister or shariah judge. Many women’s rights groups and movements are urging the Malaysian government to standardize the marital age across all states, groups, and religions – a policy that the current developmental minister, Nancy Shukri, fully supports.