Maputo — The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has expressed its concern at the high rate of child marriage in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, claiming that 56 per cent of girls in that province marry before the age of 18.

According to a UNICEF statement, 18 per cent of girls in Nampula marry before the age of 15, "which means we need to continue fighting against forced unions in that region.'

"Mozambique has one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world, with 48 per cent of girls marrying before the age of 18 nationally. But in Nampula province, this number rises to 56 per cent, and, surprisingly, 18 per cent marry before the age of 15', reads the Unicef note.

The organization estimates that 56 per cent of girls become pregnant as teenagers, "and 64 per cent of those who only completed primary school were married as children.'

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"UNICEF works with partners to help the girls behind these statistics, investing in their education, engaging parents, community leaders, and communities in protection against forced unions and violence, and connecting them to services that can help change these numbers', reads the document.

According to Unicef, the organization supported, last August, the issuance of birth certificates to over 16,000 people affected by recent cyclones in Nampula, stressing that "birth certificates play a fundamental role in protecting children from child marriage by providing legal proof of their age, and also in accessing basic services such as education, health care, and social protection.'

According to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the adolescent birth rate from 2001 to 2024 reached 158 per 1,000 Mozambican girls, behind only the Central African Republic (184), Equatorial Guinea (176), and Angola (163). These figures mean that Mozambique has the fourth-highest teenage birth rate in the world among girls aged 15 to 19.