Spatial pattern of girl child marriage and its association with poverty among empowered action group (EAG) states in India: an application of exploratory spatial data analysis

Child marriage remains a pervasive human rights violation in many parts of the world, including India. Despite prohibitions against it, the practice remains widespread. Cultural practices and beliefs, which significantly impact the acceptance and practice of child marriage, vary widely across different geographic areas. Additionally, geographic clusters of high rates of child marriage remain unidentified for specific regions, particularly the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states. This study conducts a district-level analysis of girl child marriage rates and their spatial association with poverty across the EAG states in India. This study utilized district-level data on child marriage prevalence among women aged 20–24 in EAG states from the fifth round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5; 2019-21) district factsheets, and poverty rates from the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) Progress Review 2023 by NITI Aayog. Leveraging data from the NFHS-5 district actsheets and the MPI Progress Review, we employed advanced Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) technique. Significant spatial clusters and outliers revealed a heterogeneous distribution of child marriage rates across districts. The analysis highlights strong spatial dependencies, indicating that areas with high child marriage rates are often geographically proximate. Furthermore, the analysis uncovers a compelling correlation between elevated child marriage rates and high poverty levels, emphasizing the socio-economic intricacies of this issue. These insights suggest that effective policy interventions must address both spatial and economic dimensions to combat child marriage effectively, thus formulating strategies for the empowerment and protection of young girls in EAG states.