A map has been released that shows the U.S. states where the most child marriages have occurred.
Marriage for those under the age of 18 was legal in all 50 U.S. states as of 2017. But since 2018, 13 states have ended child marriage by raising the legal age of marriage to 18.
Nearly 300,000 children as young as 10 were legally married in the U.S. between 2000 and 2018—mostly girls who were wed to adult men, according to Unchained At Last, a nonprofit organization working to end child marriage in the U.S.
The organization and other advocates say minors who are married are left open to abuse and are vulnerable in the legal system.
In a bid to demonstrate the prevalence of child marriage, Unchained At Last led a study that collected available state data and used estimation methods to determine how many child marriages occurred in each state and the District of Columbia between those years.
Photo illustration by Newsweek
Texas saw the most child marriages during that period, with an estimated 41,774 taking place between 2000 and 2018, according to the study.
California was second, with an estimated 23,588, followed by Florida (17,274), Nevada (17,403) and North Carolina (12,637).
The state with the fewest child marriages during that period was Rhode Island, with 171. Several other states in the Northeast were also among those with the fewest child marriages taking place during those years: New Hampshire had an estimated 206, Delaware had approximately 219 and Vermont had around 272.
Nevada, Idaho, Arkansas, Kentucky and Oklahoma had the highest rates of child marriage per child population, while New Hampshire, the District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Minnesota had the lowest.
To calculate the rate, Newsweek compared Unchained At Last’s total number of child marriages for each state during the 18-year period with each states’ child population at the midway mark, 2009.
The rate creates comparable figures for each state; not how commonly children are married.
Newsweek has also previously reported on how minors have long been taken across state lines to be wed in states where child marriage laws are more lax.
Fraidy Reiss, the organization’s founder and executive director, told Newsweek that it will continue to happen until every state raises the minimum age for marriage to 19.
“When one state ends child marriage, often you’ll see in a neighboring state that still allows it, or even a few states over, you’ll see those numbers increase,” she said.
“You have to pass simple, common-sense legislation that costs nothing, harms no one, to end a human rights abuse that destroys girls’ lives and creates a nightmarish legal trap for minors.”