East Java, Province with the Highest Rate of Child Marriage in 2022

The 2020 long-form census results from Indonesia's Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) show that the average rate of child marriage among girls aged 10-14 years in Indonesia reached 0.50% of the total national female adolescent population.

East Java had the highest percentage of early marriages among adolescent girls in 2022, at 1.43%.

Other provinces with the highest percentages were West Papua and West Sulawesi, both at 1.16%.

This was followed by Papua at 1.12%, and Jakarta completing the top five with 1.09%.

Meanwhile, provinces with the lowest rates of adolescent girl marriage in 2022 included West Java (0.03%), Bali (0.08%), and Jambi (0.1%).

Early marriage is defined as marriage contracted below the legal age stipulated by law.

Based on Law Number 16 of 2019 concerning Amendments to Law Number 1 of 1974 concerning Marriage, the minimum age for marriage for both men and women is 19 years.

BPS explains that "ever-married women" in this report includes women who are married, widowed, or divorced. Based on this description, BPS confirms there is no sharp increase or decrease in the percentage of ever-married women aged 10-14 years between census periods.

The percentage of ever-married girls aged 10-14 in Indonesia at 0.5% is still lower than in other developing countries.

BPS provides examples: in most African countries, the percentage of girls married before age 15 ranges from 1-10%, while in most Asian countries it is less than 2%. Furthermore, in most Latin American and Caribbean countries it is around 1-5%.

Quoting research by Muntamah et al., BPS notes that the increasing trend of early marriage in various countries is often closely related to tradition, economic factors, and religion.