Background
In Ethiopia, around million girls were exposed to the risk of child marriage in the country according to previous study report. But this report was not clearly identified and documented the potential local clusters of prevalence of child marriage and associated factors in the country.
Objective
This study was aimed to assess spatial distributions of female child marriage and associated factors in Ethiopia using the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey data.
Methods
The study was conducted based on the 2016 Ethiopian demographic and health survey. Data analyzed were taken from 2903 women aged 20-24 years. Local Anselin Moran's I was used to identify potential local clusters of high prevalence of child marriage. Generalized estimating equations for binary outcome was used to identify associated factors of child marriage. Adjusted odds ratio (AOR) with its respective 95% confidence interval was reported to show the strength of association.
Results
The finding of this study showed that prevalence of child marriage in Ethiopia was 40.2% [95%CI: 38.4, 42.0]. In this study also, potential local clusters of high prevalence of child marriage were identified. Local region and educational status were determinant factors of child marriage in the country at 5% level of significance.
Conclusions
In this study, local region and educational status were determinant factors of child marriage in the country. To address the problems of child marriage concerned government bodies in collaboration with partners should provide massive awareness creation about child marriage and its effects in the country for the local communities.