Prevalence of Early Marriage and Its Underlying Causes in Nepal: A Mixed Methods Study

Early marriage is one of the major traditional practices that affects the life of both boys and girls in many different ways. In this context, this research assessed the prevalence of early marriage and derived its underlying causes. Adopting a mixed methods approach, first, the study surveyed a sample of 1350 households of Nepal in which at least a marriage took place within the five years before the survey. Following a survey, secondly, the study explored 30 unique cases of early marriage, and ten among them were studied in more depth through face-to-face interviews. Logistic regression was applied to determine the factors that could influence the prevalence of early marriage. It was then followed by an analysis of the qualitative data. The research findings demonstrate that there is a high prevalence of early marriage (49.6%) among households within Nepal; nevertheless, the overall trend of early marriage is noted at a decreasing trend over the years. Undoubtedly, factors such as the level of education of the family members, the gender of the head of the household, and religion, influence the predisposition to early marriage within Nepal. Early marriage is undeniably a subjective phenomenon; however, such subjectivity is shaped by the socio-economic situation, as well as individual and family values. Thus, among others, the study implied that improving the strategies that promote higher formal schooling could reduce the prevalence of early marriage and thereby result in associated beneficial welfare effects in Nepal.