EDITORIAL: Gallup Pakistan’s latest Digital Analytics report shows that legislative progress, while necessary, is far from sufficient in dismantling deeply entrenched social practices.
According to the report, nearly one in ten adolescents aged 15–19 in Pakistan is married, underscoring the persistence of underage marriage despite recent legislative efforts at both the federal and provincial levels—particularly in Islamabad and Sindh—to curb the practice. The data reveal a stark disconnect between lawmaking and lived realities.
Over the past few years, several provinces and the federal capital have passed legislation criminalising marriage below the age of 18, with Punjab though remaining an outlier where the legal age is still 16. Yet the prevalence of adolescent marriage remains alarmingly high in several regions.
Balochistan tops the list with 22.5 percent of adolescents married, followed by Sindh at 17 percent and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 13.8 percent. Punjab and Islamabad record lower rates—6.9 percent and 4.7 percent, respectively—but even these figures represent thousands of young lives altered prematurely.
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These disparities tell an important story. Early marriage is far more common in rural areas than in urban centres across all provinces, reflecting the intersecting pressures of poverty, lack of education, weak service delivery, and deeply embedded social norms. In communities where schooling is inaccessible or undervalued—especially for girls—marriage is often viewed as a form of social and economic security, even when it comes at immense personal cost to adolescents.
Unsurprisingly, girls bear the brunt of this practice. Nationally, around 15 percent of females aged 16–19 report being married. In some rural areas of KP, Sindh, and Balochistan, this figure rises to an alarming 30 percent, laying bare the gendered nature of the problem.
In a patriarchal social order, early marriage continues to be normalised for girls, while boys are more likely to marry later, once they are economically established. The consequences for adolescent girls are severe and long-lasting.
Early marriage frequently leads to early and repeated pregnancies, often before a girl’s body is fully developed, increasing the risk of maternal mortality, obstetric complications, and poor neonatal outcomes. These girls are also more likely to drop out of school permanently, limiting their economic prospects and reinforcing cycles of dependency and poverty.
Moreover, early marriage heightens vulnerability to domestic violence and abuse, particularly within extended family systems where young brides have little autonomy or protection.
As Gallup Pakistan rightly notes, national averages mask substantial sub-national variations. Geography and gender play a far greater role in shaping outcomes than legal changes alone.
This reality demands a shift in policy thinking. Passing laws is only the first step; enforcing them is the real test. Meaningful enforcement requires community engagement, and access to education, especially for girls in rural and marginalised areas.
Without such targeted, region-specific interventions, early marriage will continue in pockets of Pakistan, despite improvements in national averages. Provincial authorities must go beyond legislation to protect adolescent girls’ rights, health, and futures by enforcing existing laws, expanding education, and challenging outdated local norms.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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