There are more cases of child marriage in 2026 than two years earlier.

Error detected

The claim asserts that child marriage cases are increasing, whereas UNICEF and World Bank data show that the global prevalence of child marriage continues to decline.

Omissions

• The claim asserts a rise in 'cases' (an absolute count), whereas the available global data measure the prevalence rate of child marriage; prevalence has been declining, but the sources do not directly report the absolute annual number of child marriages, so the count metric itself is not directly documented.
• Population growth in Sub-Saharan Africa could raise the absolute number of child brides even while prevalence falls; the World Bank notes the region's share of the world's child brides is projected to grow.
• The most relevant sources (UNICEF 2023, Girls Not Brides 2023, World Bank data story Dec 2025) predate the 2026 session and do not provide data specific to a 2024-to-2026 comparison.
• Child marriage is reported to be rising in specific conflict- and crisis-affected settings, which could explain the speaker's impression even though the global trend is downward.

Sources

• PrimaryUNICEF DATA — Is an End to Child Marriage within Reach? Latest trends and future prospects (2023 update)An estimated 640 million girls and women alive today were married in childhood. Declines in the level of child marriage are not occurring at a fast enough pace to reach the SDG target of eliminating the practice by 2030.
• SecondaryGirls Not Brides — Despite significant progress, we need to go 20 times faster to end child marriage by 2030Globally, the practice of Child Marriage continues to decline. Today, 1 in 5 women aged 20-24 (19%) were married as children, compared to 1 in 4 (23%), about ten years ago. Around 68 million cases have been avoided in the last 25 years.
• SecondaryWorld Bank Gender Data Portal — The Persistent Challenge of Child Marriage: A Global OverviewDespite efforts to combat female child marriage, the pace of decline is slow, and projections suggest that the world is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 5.3 of completely eliminating child marriages by 2030. At the current rate, global elimination may not be achieved until 2070. Nearly 650 million women alive today were married or in a union before the age of 18.