Every year in Somalia, childhoods are quietly stolen. Thousands of girls- many still in primary school- are married off before they turn eighteen. Some are barely teenagers; others, shockingly, as young as eight.
A recent case in Puntland, where an eight-year-old girl was reportedly married with her father’s consent, ignited public outrage and forced a national reckoning. But the truth is, her story is not an exception- it’s a mirror reflecting a wider social crisis.
Child marriage remains one of Somalia’s most deep-rooted and devastating practices, cutting across regions, clans, and income levels. According to UNICEF, around 35-36% of Somali women aged 20-24 were married before the age of 18. Roughly 16% were married before their 15th birthday. In total, there are an estimated 1 million child brides in Somalia today- over 640,000 of them wed before age 15. While these figures show a slight decline from earlier years, when nearly 45% of girls were married before 18, they still represent one of the highest rates of child marriage in the world.
The drivers of this crisis are complex and intertwined. Poverty, conflict, displacement, and entrenched gender norms have created an environment where early marriage often feels like the only option. Somalia’s economy remains one of the most fragile globally, with over 70% of its population living below the poverty line.
Poverty, Conflict, and Culture
In families struggling to feed and educate their children, marrying off a daughter can appear as a practical and painful act of survival- one less mouth to feed, and a potential source of dowry income. For some parents, marriage seems to offer safety in a context of chronic insecurity, where girls are vulnerable to sexual violence, exploitation, and trafficking.
Environmental stress has intensified this crisis. The Horn of Africa has faced its worst drought in over 40 years, displacing millions and devastating livelihoods. UNICEF reports that in some drought-affected regions, child marriage now accounts for nearly 60% of gender-based violence cases. Families facing starvation often make heartbreaking calculations, marrying off daughters as a means of coping with economic collapse. What looks like a cultural tradition is, in many cases, a desperate response to survival pressure.
Cultural and religious expectations further entrench the practice. In Somali society, marriage is tied to honor, family reputations, and social cohesion. Parents fear the stigma of daughters who remain unmarried into adolescence.
Customary law- known as Xeer- and clan-based mediation systems often override statutory laws, permitting marriages that would otherwise be illegal under national or international law. Religious interpretations, too, are sometimes invoked to justify early marriage, even though many Islamic scholars argue that Islam condemns coercion and calls for maturity, consent, and fairness in marriage.
Ending child marriage in Somalia is not just a moral imperative; it is an economic and developmental one.
The consequences of child marriage are profound, far-reaching, and measurable. Health-wise, girls married before 18 are far more likely to experience complications in pregnancy and childbirth, the leading causes of death for girls aged 15–19 in low-income countries.
Somalia’s maternal mortality rate remains among the highest in the world, at 692 deaths per 100,000 live births. Early pregnancies are not only life-threatening but can also lead to long-term health issues such as obstetric fistula, anaemia, and malnutrition. Somalia’s total fertility rate of 6.9 births per woman, one of the highest globally, further underscores the heavy reproductive burden placed on young women and girls.
Education, too, pays a steep price. The Somali Ministry of Education estimates that only about 25% of girls complete primary school, and far fewer transition to secondary education. Once married, most girls are forced to drop out, their learning replaced by domestic labour and early motherhood. This educational exclusion perpetuates economic dependency and suppresses women’s participation in public life. It also ensures that the cycle of poverty, and child marriage, continues from one generation to the next.
The social and psychological costs are harder to quantify but equally devastating. Early marriage strips girls of autonomy and choice, often trapping them in abusive relationships where violence goes unreported.
Some Progress, But Not Yet Enough
Despite these grim realities, there are signs of progress. Somalia has ratified key international treaties, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. The government has pledged, under the Sustainable Development Goals (Target 5.3), to eliminate child marriage by 2030.
Civil society organizations and women’s groups have been at the forefront of this fight- providing shelters, running awareness campaigns, and working with religious and clan leaders to reinterpret traditions that harm children. In Puntland and Somaliland, advocacy networks have successfully pushed for draft bills that would set the legal marriage age at 18.
But progress is uneven, and enforcement remains the weakest link. Without clear, nationally harmonized laws and accountability mechanisms, local efforts risk being undermined by cultural and economic pressures. Protecting girls requires not only legislation but also education, social safety nets, and sustained humanitarian relief that reduce the desperation driving early marriages. It also requires the active participation of men and community elders, voices that carry weight in dismantling harmful norms in these communities.
Ending child marriage in Somalia is not just a moral imperative; it is an economic and developmental one. The World Bank estimates that child marriage will cost developing countries trillions of dollars by 2030.
In contrast, ending child marriage would have a large positive effect on the educational attainment of girls and their children, contribute to women having fewer children and later in life, and increase women’s expected earnings and household welfare. In Somalia’s context, every girl kept in school represents an investment in national resilience, dignity, productivity, and peace. Conversely, every child bride represents a lost opportunity, a future cut short by systems that failed her.
Protecting Somali girls from early marriage is not an act of charity, it is an act of justice, and one long overdue. Childhood should never be a privilege; it should be a right. Until every Somali girl can dream freely, learn freely, and grow freely, Somalia’s promise of progress will remain unfinished.