Nearly half the per cent of girls in the country are forced to marry even before they attain legal marriageable age, leading to increased number of teenage pregnancies and other related problems, a Union health ministry survey revealed.
Most of them are married by the time they are 17, the survey said, adding the young girls are forced to bear a child immediately.
Putting the percentage of forced teenage marriages at 46, the National Family Health Survey-3 said if all women were to have only the number of children they wanted, the total fertility rate would be 1.9 instead of the current 2.7.
The survey found the fertility rate in rural areas to be 3 per cent, which is much higher than urban areas where the rate is 2.1 children per woman.
Detailing on caste-wise fertility rates, the survey said the total fertility rate among Muslims is 3.1 per cent, which is slightly higher than that of Hindus, which is 2.7 per cent.
Further, the survey showed that fertility rate is higher among backward classes, which stands at 3.1 per cent in Scheduled Tribes, 2.9 in Scheduled Castes and 2.8 in Other Backward Classes.
The survey is based on interviews of 1,24,285 women in the age group 15-19 and 74,369 men in 29 districts nation-wide.
While most women get married at 17 years, men were entering wedlock at 23.
Almost 46 per cent of women got married before their legal age. Only 27 per cent of men got married before attaining marriageable legal age, the survey said.
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