For Kiki Maharani, marrying young was the result of peer pressure in Madura, East Java. She married when she was 17 and her husband was 20 years old.
Kiki, now 28, blames lower levels of education and parents scared their grandchildren will be born out of wedlock for the prevalence of this practice. Indeed, many parts of Indonesia have similar traditions, which is why the country has the second highest incidence of underage marriage in Southeast Asia.
Girls who marry underage are denied an education and are prone to domestic violence and poverty. The practice also has significant economic costs: in 2020, UNICEF Indonesia published data showing child marriage cost 1.7 percent of Indonesia’s GDP.
