Published Oct 07, 2026 | 7:00 AM ⚊ Updated Oct 07, 2026 | 7:00 AM
Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest proportion of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18
Synopsis: NFHS-6 data has revealed a stark district-level variation in early marriage and teenage motherhood across South India. Among South Indian states, Andhra Pradesh has the highest rate of girls marrying before 18. Among districts, Vikarabad in Telangana has the highest share of teenagers aged 15-19 who are either pregnant or already have children.
Despite multiple concerted efforts — starting with the Indian Renaissance in the early 19th century — the bane of child marriage still exists in the country in varying degrees.
The latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) revealed a wide gap in two early marriage- and teenage motherhood-linked indicators across districts in South Indian states. While some districts recorded a sharp decline from the previous survey, others witnessed an increase.
Among 132 districts in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Keralam, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, 31 recorded a child marriage rate of 20% or more. Anantapuramu in Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalaseema recorded the highest child marriage rate of 40.3%, followed by Kurnool at 36.2%, Prakasam (both in Andhra Pradesh) at 33.7%, and Karnataka’s Yadgir at 32.3%.
The NFHS-6 indicator measured the proportion of women aged 20 to 24 who were married before the age of 18. It therefore reflected marriages that occurred earlier in life among this age group, rather than marriages that took place during the survey period.
The second indicator gauged teen girls aged 15 to 19 who were already mothers or pregnant at the time of the survey. At the district level, Vikarabad, Telangana, recorded the highest rate at 19.7%, followed by Anantapuramu in Andhra Pradesh at 17.9% and Nagarkurnool in Telangana at 14.9%.
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Among the southern states, Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest proportion of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18, at 25.1%, down from 29.3% in NFHS-5.
Telangana followed with 17.9%, down from 23.5%, and Karnataka at 15.3%, down from 21.3%. Tamil Nadu recorded 10.5%, compared with 12.8% in NFHS-5.
The rate was considerably lower in Puducherry at 5.6% and Keralam at 2.9%.
Lakshadweep was the only southern state or Union Territory in the comparison where the rate increased, from 1.3% in NFHS-5 to 2.9% in NFHS-6.
The district-level distribution reflected uneven rates within individual states.
In Andhra Pradesh, 10 out of 13 districts recorded rates of at least 20%. (The NFHS-6 fieldwork in Andhra Pradesh was conducted from 28 June 2023 to 9 December 2023. At the time of the survey, the sampling framework was based on the combined 13-district administrative structure, rather than the subsequently reorganised district structure of 26 or 28).
Besides Anantapur, Kurnool and Prakasam, the rate was 27% in Vizianagaram, 25.2% in West Godavari, 24.2% in East Godavari, 23.4% in Krishna, 23.3% in YSR, 22% in Guntur and 21.7% in Chittoor.
In Telangana, 11 of 33 districts crossed 20%. Bhadradri Kothagudem recorded 29.8%, Jogulamba Gadwal 28.4%, Narayanpet 27.2%, Vikarabad 26.1% and Nalgonda 25.2%.
Karnataka had eight districts at or above 20%, led by Yadagiri at 32.3%, Vijayapura at 29.8%, Raichur at 29.4% and Bagalkot at 26.8%.
Tamil Nadu had only one district above the 20% mark, with Krishnagiri at 20.4%. Puducherry’s Yanam recorded 21%. No district in Kerala touched 20%.
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A comparison with NFHS-5 showed an uneven overall decline in child marriage across districts.
Among districts with comparable NFHS-5 data, the rate fell in 25 of 29 Telangana districts (four districts — Narayanpet, Mahabubnagar, Mulugu and Jayashankar Bhupalapally — have no NFHS-5 comparison), 11 of 13 Andhra Pradesh districts and 27 of 30 Karnataka districts. It also fell in 10 out of 14 districts in Keralam, 16 of 27 Tamil Nadu districts (11 other districts have no NFHS-5 comparable figures) and three of four Puducherry districts, including the two census districts of Yanam and Mahe.
Telangana recorded some of the largest declines.
In Jagitial, Telangana, the proportion fell from 28.4% to 7.8%, a decline of 20.6 percentage points. Warangal Rural, Telangana, fell by 15.7 points, from 22.9% to 7.2%. Khammam, Telangana, declined by 15.5 points, from 35% to 19.5%, while Medak, Telangana, fell by 15.1 points.
Belagavi in Karnataka also fell by 15.5 points, from 32.8% to 17.3%.
But some districts moved in the opposite direction. Bhadradri Kothagudem in Telangana increased from 20.8% to 29.8%, while Raichur in Karnataka rose from 21.9% to 29.4%. Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu increased from 4.5% to 10.5%, and Chennai rose from 1.9% to 7%.
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The second indicator showed a different distribution.
Across the 132 districts in South India, 17 recorded 10% or more of teens aged 15 to 19 as already mothers or pregnant. Six of those districts were in Telangana, five in Andhra Pradesh, four in Tamil Nadu and two in Karnataka.
Vikarabad, Telangana, had the highest rate at 19.7%, followed by Anantapuramu, Andhra Pradesh, at 17.9%. Nagarkurnool, Telangana, recorded 14.9%; Khammam, Telangana, 13.3%; Narayanpet, Telangana, 12.6%; and Vijayapura, Karnataka, 12.6%.
At the state level, Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest proportion at 9.2%, down from 12.6% in NFHS-5. Telangana stood at 6%, almost unchanged from 5.8%. Karnataka was at 4.9%, Tamil Nadu at 4.1%, Puducherry at 2.9% and Keralam at 1.5%.
Lakshadweep recorded 3.4%, up from 1.1%.
The biggest increases were recorded in Vikarabad and Nagarkurnool in Telangana, where the rate rose by 9.7 and 9.6 percentage points, respectively.
Kumuram Bheem Asifabad, Telangana, recorded a 5.6-point increase, while Ballari, Karnataka, rose by 5.6 points.
At the same time, Guntur in Andhra Pradesh recorded an 11.7-point decline; Chittoor, also in Andhra Pradesh, fell by 11.2 points; Warangal Rural in Telangana declined by 11 points; and Erode in Tamil Nadu fell by 11 points.
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The urban-rural split remained consistent across the southern states and Union Territories.
In Andhra Pradesh, the share of women aged 20 to 24 married before 18 was 17.1% in urban areas compared with 28.9% in rural areas. For teenage mothers or pregnant women, the corresponding figures were 5.4% and 11.1%, respectively.
In Telangana, child marriage stood at 12.9% in urban areas and 19.6% in rural areas, while teenage motherhood or pregnancy was 2.7% and 7.2%, respectively.
Karnataka recorded 10% in urban areas and 19.1% in rural areas for child marriage, while teenage motherhood or pregnancy stood at 2.2% and 6.8%.
The same pattern was reported in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Keralam, with rural rates higher than urban rates for both indicators.
The NFHS-6 figures also showed the lowest district-level child marriage rates in parts of Keralam and Karnataka. Alappuzha, Kollam and Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, Kanniyakumari in Tamil Nadu and Mahe in Puducherry recorded 0% on the indicator.
However, read those figures with caution. The child marriage indicator covered only women aged 20 to 24, a relatively small segment of the survey sample. The fact sheets did not provide the base count for this specific indicator or confidence intervals.
Some district comparisons with NFHS-5 were also unavailable because of changes in district boundaries.
The two indicators also measured different age groups. The child marriage measure looked at women aged 20 to 24 and whether they married before 18, while the second measured women aged 15 to 19 who were already mothers or pregnant during the survey. They, therefore, should not be treated as measures of the same group of women
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
