As World Makes Gains Against Child Marriage, Nepal Struggles to Catch Up

GORGAMA, Nepal — In Nepal’s hot southern plains, Rajesh Sada’s mother had one wish: that she would live to see the marriage of her 16-year-old son before she succumbed to tuberculosis.

It took only a few days to find a bride. In March, several days before his mother died, Rajesh exchanged vows — with a 15-year-old girl he did not know. Five of his siblings — all married as teenagers — smiled and congratulated him. They saw no reason to question the moment.

“I don’t think anything is wrong with child marriage,” Rajesh said recently outside his small hut made of mud, stone and dried grass. “It happens everywhere here. It is an expectation.”

In many parts of the world, the battle against child marriage is being won, with global rates dropping significantly over the last decade, largely because of progress in South Asia. But the story is complicated in Nepal, one of the region’s poorest countries, where activists say these marriages are increasing in some villages.