Across the globe, levels of child marriage are highest in West and Central Africa, where 1 in 3 young women were married before age 18. But what if I told you this issue is also lurking in our own back yard.... Nearly 300,000 minors, under age 18, were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018, this study found. A few were as young as 10, though nearly all were age 16 or 17. Most were girls wed to adult men an average of four years older. Today we are going down the rabbit hole of the complex issue of child marriages in the United States.

Sources:

https://www.newsweek.com/jerry-lee-lewis-married-13-year-old-cousin-had-honors-awards-1755500 

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/r-kelly-aaliyah-nda-marriage-annulment-1235478393/ 

https://www.savedinamerica.org/stats 

https://www.equalitynow.org/learn_more_child_marriage_us/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage_in_the_United_States

https://www.cfr.org/blog/its-time-end-child-marriage-united-states

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/01/09/cassie-levesque-new-hampshire-child-marriage-524159

https://genderlawjustice.org/under-deconstruction/the-harsh-truth-of-child-marriage-in-the-us 

https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2018/feb/06/it-put-an-end-to-my-childhood-the-hidden-scandal-of-us-child-marriage