Niger and Chad have two of the highest rates of child marriage in the world. In Niger, 76% of women aged 20 to 24 were married or in a union before 18, and 28% before 15 [1][3]. In Chad, the figure is 61% before 18 and 24% before 15 [2][5]. Few girls finish school: the Malala Fund estimates that only 6% of girls in Niger and 12% in Chad complete lower secondary school [10][11]. Since 2021, armed violence has closed hundreds of schools in Niger’s Tillabéri region, a military coup in 2023 froze much of Niger’s aid, and more than 925,000 Sudanese refugees have arrived in eastern Chad [7][19][35]. The link is simple: a girl in school is far less likely to be married as a child, and a girl who is married is likely to leave school.
Content note: this article mentions attacks on schools, the killing of teachers and the deaths of children in school fires.
Why school and marriage are two sides of one problem
The data show the link clearly. In Niger, 84% of women with no schooling were married before 18, compared with 32% of women with secondary education or more [1][3]. In Chad, the rate is 68% for women with no schooling and 45% for women with secondary education or more [2]. School does not only delay marriage. It gives girls skills, networks and the confidence to say what they want for their lives.
The reverse is also true. When a girl is married, she is often withdrawn from school. UNICEF Chad notes that married girls are often taken out of school and lists compulsory schooling as a priority [5]. In Niger, a 1978 ministerial decision excluded pregnant and married girls from school until it was repealed in 2019 [9].
Both countries have very young, fast-growing populations. Save the Children reports that Niger has a median age of 14.5 and that about 600,000 more children are expected to enter school each year, which would need at least 12,000 new schools a year [16]. Much of the new space is built with straw. UNICEF counted more than 36,000 straw classrooms in Niger in 2022 [23].
Cases and events, 2021 to 2026
2021
- 13 April 2021, Niamey (Niger). Straw classrooms at the École Pays-Bas caught fire. UNICEF reports that 21 children died, most of them in preschool [23]. Other outlets reported 20 deaths [24].
- May 2021, Geneva. In Niger’s Universal Periodic Review, states again recommended that Niger withdraw its reservations to CEDAW, ratify the Maputo Protocol and align national law [9].
- July 2021. Niger made a five-year commitment at the Generation Equality Forum, with a stated investment of USD 40 million [3]. A coalition including ONG FAD and WILPF briefed the CEDAW Committee on girls’ schooling and child marriage [9].
- 24 October 2021, Maradi (Niger). The Spotlight Initiative reported that 45 village protection committees had handled 48 child marriage cases in 2020 and helped 234 girls whose schooling had been interrupted return to school [25].
- November 2021, Maradi (Niger). A fire in straw and wood classrooms killed at least 26 children aged about five to six, according to the mayor. The teachers’ union said it had warned officials after the Niamey fire [24].
2022
- June 2022, Chad. UNICEF published a review of harmful practices from 2014 to 2022. Marriage before 18 fell from 68% (2010) to 60.6% (2019) among women aged 20 to 24 [5].
- August 2022, Niger. Save the Children counted 890 schools closed by insecurity, affecting about 78,000 children, including more than 38,000 girls [16].
- 30 August 2022. Human Rights Watch published an interview with Mariama Mamoudou Djibo of ONG FAD. She said few people knew about Niger’s 2017 decree and 2019 order allowing married and pregnant girls to stay in school [8].
- 1 November 2022, Tillabéri (Niger). AFP, citing UNICEF, reported 817 closed schools, affecting 72,421 pupils, including 34,464 girls [15].
2023
- April 2023 onwards, eastern Chad. War in Sudan pushed refugees into Ouaddaï, Sila and Wadi Fira. About 61% of the refugees were children [34].
- May and June 2023, Tillabéri (Niger). The education minister reported 921 schools closed and 79,829 pupils affected [13]. An ECHO update of 6 June 2023 counted 958 closed primary schools nationwide, 891 of them in Tillabéri (31.5% of the region’s primary schools) [14].
- 20 June 2023, Lake Chad. IOM data cited by UNICEF showed more than 137,000 school-age children out of school in displacement sites around Lake Chad, mainly because there were no schools nearby [32].
- 26 July 2023, Niger. The military seized power. ECOWAS and WAEMU imposed sanctions on 30 July [21]. On 2 August, the World Bank paused disbursements for all operations in a portfolio of USD 4.5 billion [19]. The IRC warned that sanctions would raise dropout rates [20].
- 30 November 2023, Chad. Tchad Non-Violence told a UPR pre-session that child marriage persists because legal texts conflict: the 2015 law sets 18, but it said the marriage age in other texts is still 15 for girls, and customary practice implicitly allows 13. It also said some rape cases end in “amicable” marriages [31].
2024
- 10 January 2024, Makalondi, Tillabéri (Niger). Suspected armed group members killed a teacher who had been abducted with a colleague in 2023. Teachers stopped work and demanded protection [7][18].
- February to April 2024, Tahoua and Tillabéri (Niger). Suspected armed group members removed students from a school in Garin Ali (4 February) and burned schools in Dina (15 April) and Bangou Karey Koulbaga (25 April) [7].
- July to October 2024, Niger. Floods destroyed at least 5,500 classrooms. The school year was delayed from 1 to 28 October [7].
- September 2024, region. The Norwegian Refugee Council counted 14,000 schools closed by insecurity across West and Central Africa, up from 13,200 in 2023 [38].
- November 2024, N’Djamena (Chad). The Ministry of Women and Early Childhood and UNICEF signed a roadmap to end child marriage and FGM. UNICEF urged adoption of a children’s code [29].
2025
- January 2025, Chad. An ordinance on preventing and punishing violence against women and girls was adopted [6][33]. In Niger, USAID suspended most of its programmes; researchers in Diffa found that school canteens and support programmes stopped and attendance fell, especially in remote areas [22].
- 31 March 2025, eastern Chad. UNICEF reported 849,000 children out of school, including 249,000 refugees and returnees. In April it warned of an 85% funding gap for the education response [33].
- 3 April 2025, Chad. Alwihda Info published the testimony of a girl married at 12 who lives with obstetric fistula and lost her schooling [30].
- June 2025, Geneva. At Chad’s CEDAW review, an expert said girls’ secondary enrolment was below 30%. The government said girls’ primary enrolment rose to 83% in 2024 and that a family code was under debate. The Committee asked how married girls are brought back to school; no clear answer is recorded [6].
- 25 August to 2 September 2025, eastern Chad. Nearly 5,000 Sudanese refugee students sat their final exams in seven centres. More than 163,000 Sudanese children and youth attend school in Chad [34].
- 9 October 2025, Niamey. The education minister said 146 schools still closed in Tillabéri would reopen [17]. RFI reported that she put the number of the region’s 3,200 schools affected by insecurity at about 1,000 [18]. UNICEF reported more than 750 schools non-operational at the end of 2025 [7]. These counts measure different things and should not be added up.
- December 2025, Tillabéri (Niger). Two school directors were killed in Filingué on 5 December, and a union leader was abducted in Makalondi on 18 December. All schools in Makalondi commune were closed [18].
2026
- 26 February 2026, N’Djamena. The Ministry of Justice held a session to prepare a coordinated ratification of the Maputo Protocol, which Chad signed in 2004 [36].
- May 2026, eastern Chad. NRC reported 925,960 Sudanese refugees. The humanitarian plan was 31% funded in 2025, down from 56% in 2024 [35].
- 14 to 16 July 2026, Bakara (Chad). A ministry workshop with Ipas worked on recommendations for ratification. Chad had still not ratified [37].
We found far fewer published sources on Niger for 2026 than for earlier years. This reflects reduced reporting, not an end to the problem.
The data
| Indicator | Niger | Chad |
|---|---|---|
| Women 20–24 married before 18 | 76% (DHS-MICS 2012) [1][3] | 60.6% (MICS 2019) [2][5] |
| Women 20–24 married before 15 | 28% [1] | 24.2% [5] |
| Out-of-school girls, lower secondary age | 73% [10] | 66% [11] |
| Girls completing lower secondary | 6% [10] (14.8% in 2021 per World Bank [12]) | 12% [11] |
| Girls completing upper secondary | 4% [10] | 4% [11] |
| Education spending | 3% of GDP; 16% of budget [10] | 3% of GDP; 16% of budget [11] |
Three cautions apply. First, Niger’s child marriage figure dates from 2012, the latest survey available [1]. Other sources cite 77% [9][25]. Second, sources on Chad disagree: World Vision cites 68% and Alwihda “nearly 7 in 10”, which match older surveys, while the 2019 MICS gives 60.6% [5][30][39]. Third, completion figures vary by method. The Malala Fund does not give a reference year; the World Bank figure is a different indicator [10][12].
Regional gaps are large. In Niger, 89% of women in Maradi and 87% in Zinder married before 18 [3]. In Chad, Chari Baguirmi (70%) and Mayo Kebbi Est (66%) have the highest rates [4]. Adolescent fertility in Niger was 170 births per 1,000 girls aged 15 to 19 in 2021 [12].
What the law says, and the gaps
Niger
Article 144 of the Civil Code sets the minimum age of marriage at 15 for girls and 18 for boys [9]. Minors can marry younger with parental consent, and the President can grant exemptions [3]. Most marriages take place under customary law [3]. A bill banning child marriage was not passed [9].
Decree 2017-935 of December 2017 protects girls in school and promotes keeping them in school until 16. Joint Order 000335 of 22 August 2019 allows pregnant or married girls to continue their studies and sets sanctions for staff who refuse to readmit them [9]. These are real gains. But the decree does not mention early marriage, and few families know these texts exist [8][9]. Niger signed the Maputo Protocol in 2004 but has not ratified it, and keeps reservations to CEDAW articles 2 and 16 [3][9].
Chad
Ordinance 006/PR/2015, signed on 14 March 2015, banned child marriage. Parliament ratified it in July 2015 through Law 029/PR/2015, which sets the minimum age at 18 and provides prison terms and fines [5][31]. The 2023 Constitution prohibits harmful practices and commits the state to protect women’s rights [6]. Yet civil society says other texts still set 15 for girls, and the family code is still under debate [6][31]. The Malala Fund finds no explicit legal protection for pregnant and parenting girls’ education, although the government says schools that refuse pregnant girls are penalised [6][11]. Chad signed the Maputo Protocol in 2004 and has not ratified it [36][37].
In both countries, the main gap is between law and life. Article 6 of the Maputo Protocol sets 18 as the minimum age of marriage, and Article 12 commits states to protect girls’ right to education. Neither country has yet ratified it.
What works
- Paying girls to stay in school. A randomised study in 285 Nigerien villages without a secondary school gave girls a three-year scholarship. Three years later, 81% were still enrolled, against 60% in the comparison group, and recipients were 7 percentage points less likely to be married [28].
- Safe spaces and husbands’ clubs. The SWEDD project, launched in 2015 in six countries including Niger and Chad, set up 3,372 safe spaces for girls and 1,719 husbands’ and future husbands’ clubs by 2019. Average age at marriage across SWEDD countries rose only slightly, from 17.15 to 17.33 [27].
- Village protection committees. Spotlight-supported committees in Maradi helped 234 girls return to school in 2020 [25]. The Spotlight programme in Niger ran from 2019 to 2026 with about USD 7.2 million [26].
- Re-entry rules that people know about. Niger’s 2019 order shows that a clear rule can change school practice, but only with outreach and enforcement [8][9].
- Including refugees in national schools. Chad’s policy of enrolling refugee children in public schools let thousands of Sudanese students continue learning [34][35].
What RFLD asks for
- Niger: amend Article 144 of the Civil Code to set 18 as the minimum age of marriage for all, with no exemptions, and adopt a law that prohibits child marriage under customary law too.
- Chad: align the civil code and the draft family code with Law 029/PR/2015, and adopt the children’s code.
- Both: ratify the Maputo Protocol without reservations, and Niger should lift its reservations to CEDAW articles 2 and 16.
- Put the right of pregnant, married and parenting girls to stay in school into law in Chad, and publicise Niger’s 2019 order in every school, in local languages.
- Fund secondary scholarships, school meals and safe transport for girls in rural areas, and replace straw classrooms with safe buildings.
- Protect schools and teachers in Tillabéri, Diffa, Lake Chad and eastern Chad, report attacks, and open temporary learning spaces when schools close.
- Donors should restore education and child protection funding cut since 2023 and 2025, and keep it flowing to communities regardless of political crises.
- Publish new survey data on child marriage in Niger, where the latest national figure is from 2012.
RFLD tools you can use today
- Check the laws: Niger women’s rights laws and Chad women’s rights laws, part of Women’s Rights Laws by Country.
- Track progress on the Maputo Protocol with the Maputo Barometer 2026 and Maputo Protocol reservations: nine states, nine asks.
- Share the Maputo Protocol in your language, including Zarma and Hausa, widely spoken in Niger.
- Train community leaders with the Maputo Protocol Training Manual.
- Compare legal texts using the Legal Framework for the Rights of Women and Girls in West Africa (2023) and West Africa women’s rights laws: paper vs practice.
- Prepare shadow reports with the CEDAW and UPR review calendar.
- See women’s leadership data on the tracker pages for Niger and Chad.
- Learn about conflict and protection on Peace & Security, and take free courses at the Francophone Academy.
Closing
Girls in Niger and Chad are not asking for charity. They are asking for a classroom that will not burn, a teacher who is safe, a law that says 18 and means it, and a community that sees their future beyond marriage. The evidence from Niger’s own villages shows that keeping girls in school delays marriage and raises ambitions. Governments, donors and communities know what works. What is missing is the political will and steady funding to do it at scale, in peace and in crisis. RFLD and its member organisations will keep pressing for both, with the Maputo Protocol as our common standard.
References
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- Child Marriage Data Portal, “Chad country profile”, data year 2019, accessed October 2026. childmarriagedata.org
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- UNICEF Chad, “Day of the African Child 2022: Harmful practices in Chad from 2014 to 2022”, June 2022. unicef.org
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