<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">''<h3 class="m_-7507212025039404283gmail-r" style="font-size: 18px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">India saw a sharp decline of 20 percent in child marriages in the last decade. The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said that as against 47 percent of the girls getting married before the age of 18, a decade ago, 27 percent girls are getting married, now.&nbsp;</h3></div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The drop in India has contributed significantly to a global decline in child marriages. Overall, the proportion of girls who were married as children decreased by 15 percent in the last decade.</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">According to a statement issued by the UNICEF, 25 million child marriages were prevented globally in the decade of 2005-06 to 2015-16. The largest reduction was seen in South Asia with India being at the forefront.&nbsp;</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><br />''</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The UNICEF stated, in South Asia, the number of girls marrying before the age of 18 has dropped by more than a third, from nearly 50 percent to 30 percent, in large part due to progress in India.</div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"></div>''<div style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">The UN children's agency attributed increasing rates of girls' education, proactive government investments in adolescent girls and strong public awareness about the illegality of child marriage and the harm it causes are among the reasons for the decline.</div>