Early marriage remains a widely spread phenomenon in Yemen and is believed to be one the main causes leading to high maternal mortality rates. Both girls and boys tend to marry young in Yemen, however, the implications of early marriage for women is understandably more serious due to the prevalence of teenage pregnancies which are most often coupled with short birth intervals, high fertility rates, and inadequate reproductive healthcare. Numerous women’s NGOs are trying to push for the introduction of a minimum marriage age at 17. In the SWMENA survey, respondents were asked a series of questions about their opinions of the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls and boys and whether they supported a law that would set a minimum legal marriage age.

•  Respondents were first asked what is in their opinion the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married. Among male respondents, a 37% plurality mentioned age 18 as the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married.  According to survey responses, nearly seven in 10 Yemeni men believe that the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls should be at least 17 years or higher. This nevertheless leaves a relatively sizable share of men (30%) who believe that it is acceptable for a girl to get married at age 16 or younger. Four percent of surveyed men said that the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married is according to religious law. This implies that these respondents believe a girl can get married as soon as she hits puberty. Overall, when averaging the ages given by male respondents and excluding those who said “according to religious law”, the average minimum marriage age for girls as cited by men stands at 18 years old. If we assume that the average age for a girl to hit puberty is 11, then the average minimum age for girls to get married as cited by men would drop to 17 (Figure 1).
• For female respondents, a 37% plurality mentioned age 20 as the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married. Nearly eight in 10 surveyed women believe that the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married should be at least 17 years or older. This leaves 20% of women who would accept a marriage age for girls at 16 years or younger. Similar to men’s responses, 5% of female respondents said that the minimum acceptable age for a girl to get married is “according to religious law.” Overall, this shows that the average minimum age for a girl to get married is 19, as cited by female respondents, excluding those who said “according to religious law.” When including this group, the average minimum age drops to 18 (Figure 2).
• Survey respondents were also asked about what they thought is the minimum acceptable age for boys to get married. A sweeping majority of male respondents (90%) believe the minimum acceptable age should be at least 17 years or older. In fact, a plurality of male respondents (33%) cited age 20 as the minimum and another sizable share of 18% cited age 25. Four percent of male respondents said the minimum acceptable age for young men to get married is “according to religious law.” In total, the average minimum acceptable age for boys to get married according to male respondents is 21 (Figure 3). This does not change with the inclusion of those who said that it depends on religious law (i.e. when the boy reaches puberty assuming that the average puberty age for boys is 12).
• According to female respondents, the average minimum acceptable age for a young man to get married stands at 23. It is interesting to note that for Yemeni women, the minimum acceptable age for marriage is only slightly higher than the minimum cited by men for both girls and boys (Figure 4).
• Survey respondents who have been married before were asked how old they were when they got married the first time. This helps get a snapshot view of existing marriage ages in Yemen. The survey shows that 54% of currently or formerly married Yemeni women have been married at the age of 16 years or younger. Ten percent were married at age 17, 12% at age 18 and 5% at age 19. Nearly 19% of women have been married at age 20 or older. For men, the picture is quite different, with more than 67% reporting being married at age 20 or older.
• In fact, over a quarter of Yemeni men (26%) have been married at age 25 or older versus only 3% of women. Only one in 10 Yemeni men was married at age 16 or younger (Figure 5). According to survey findings, the average marriage age for surveyed women is 16.7 years old. For men, the average marriage age is 21.6 years old.
• Given the prevalence of early marriage in Yemen, we used survey findings to examine whether Yemeni women believe they got married too young (relative to what they believe is the minimum acceptable marriage age) or whether their opinions on minimum marriage ages correspond more or less with their own experiences. Consequently, we looked at married women and calculated a “marriage age differential”  by subtracting their actual marriage age (the age at which they got married the first time) from the age they gave as the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls. The data suggests that a relatively large proportion of women (64%) were actually married at an age younger than what is in their view the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls. In fact, 23% of married women were married at an age that is at least five years younger than what is in their view the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls. Nearly 16% of married women in our sample were married at the age that corresponds to what they believe is the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls and 20% of women have been married at an age older than what is in their view the minimum acceptable age for marriage. However, only 5% have been married at an age that is five years or older than the minimum acceptable marriage age for girls (Figure 6).
• Respondents were next asked specifically about whether they supported the adoption of “a law that would set a minimum age for a girl’s marriage in Yemen so that girls would not be allowed to get married if they are under this minimum age.” Survey findings are rather positive since large majorities of both men and women say that they support the adoption of a minimum marriage age law in Yemen. Indeed, a full 73% of men report strongly (51%) or somewhat (21%) supporting such a law and 72% of women strongly (58%) or somewhat (14%) supporting it. Meanwhile, 27% of men and 23% of women oppose a minimum marriage age law and 5% of women don’t know or refuse to answer (Figure 7). While these results are encouraging for groups in Yemen pushing for the adoption of this law, it is somewhat perplexing to see that the share of women supporting the law is not higher but rather similar to the share of men for a proposed reform that is expected to improve women’s marriage rights.
• It is also noteworthy that support for the law among women does not systematically increase with educational attainment. In fact, women with a primary education or lower show slightly higher support for the law (72%) than women with a secondary education or higher (70%).
• When looking at support levels for the law by women’s age groups, we observe that younger women under 34 tend to be more supportive of the law than older women yet there is a majority support for all age groups. A full 75% of women 18-34 support the adoption of a minimum marriage age law compared with a lower 71% of women 35-54 and an even lower 63% of women 55 or older (Figure 8). It must be noted that the share of respondents who say they don’t know or refuse to answer is much higher among women 55 or older.
• Respondents who said they supported the adoption of a minimum marriage age law were asked if they supported the current law proposal that sets the minimum at 17 years old or if they supported a different minimum age. Majorities of both men and women support the minimum age to be set at 17 years old, however, more men (72%) than women (57%) are in favor of age 17 as the minimum marriage age while more women (38%) than men (25%) would like the minimum legal marriage age to be set at an age older than 17. In fact, 22% of women would like the minimum marriage age to be set at 20 years old and 6% would like it set at age 21 or older. Meanwhile, 15% of men would like the minimum marriage age to be set at age 18 and 11% would like it to be set at age 19 or older (Figure 9).
• Respondents who said they were very or somewhat opposed to the adoption of a minimum marriage age law in Yemen were asked to explain the reasons why they are against it. The top reasons given by female respondents were different from those voiced by men. For women, the first reason why they oppose the law is due to their belief that marriage is a matter of chance/luck (35%), followed by the need to respect traditions and conventions (11%), the belief that reaching puberty for girls is sufficient for her to get married (10%), and the belief that if the husband is financially capable and can support his wife, then it doesn’t matter what age the girl is (10%). For men, the top reason for opposing a minimum marriage age law is because it is against Sharia’ and against religion (27%), followed by religious reasons (15%), the belief that it is sufficient for the girl to reach puberty to get married (13%), and the belief that early marriage protects youth from deviation (Figure 10).