West Bengal Tops Child Marriage Rates in India at 6.3%, Data Shows

Fast Summary

• The Sample Registration System (SRS) report for September 2025 highlights West Bengal as the state with the highest proportion of females married before the age of 18 at 6.3%, followed by Jharkhand at 4.6%. Kerala records the lowest rate at 0.1%.
• At a national level, this figure stands at 2.1% for females married under age in both rural (2.5%) and urban areas (1.2%).
• In urban settings, west Bengal again tops with 7.6% of marriages before age, while in rural areas it accounts for 5.8%.
• West Bengal also leads in marriages within the age group of 18-20 years at 44.9%.
• The September data shows minor improvement from May’s report where West Bengal registered a slightly higher rate of child marriage (6.5%), suggesting slight progress but persistent challenges.
• Despite dedicated schemes like Kanyashree, launched in West Bengal in 2013 to combat child marriage through conditional cash transfers, rates remain high.

– As per Chief Minister Mamata banerjee’s statement during Kanyashree Dibas celebrations, over 93 lakh beneficiaries have enrolled so far into this scheme.
– ₹593 crore allocated to kanyashree scholarships for FY2024-25; ₹11 lakh crore was allocated across gender-specific schemes statewide.
– A lancet study published earlier attributed over half the nationwide child marriage burden to four states: Bihar, WB & Uttar Pradesh few others

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