Region: East Asia and Pacific
Prevalence rates
Child marriage by 18
Other key stats
Are there Girls Not Brides members? | No |
Does this country have a national strategy or plan? | Yes |
Is there a Girls Not Brides National Partnership or coalition? | No |
Age of marriage without consent or exceptions taken into account | Legal age of marriage - 18 years, no exceptions |
What's the prevalence rate?
14.6% of girls in Vietnam are married before their 18th birthday and 1.1% are married before the age of 15.
According to 2020-21 MICS data, 2% of boys in Vietnam were married before the age of 18.
Child marriage is most prevalent in rural, mountainous and isolated areas, where a large number of ethnic minority people live: in the Northern Midlands and Mountainous Areas 23.1% of women aged 20-49 were married before the age of 18, 18.2% in the Central Highlands, and 14% in the Mekong River Delta.
What drives child marriage in Vietnam?
Child marriage is driven by gender inequality and the belief that girls are somehow inferior to boys.
In Vietnam, child marriage is exacerbated by:
Poverty: Girls from Vietnam’s poorest households are more likely to marry before the age of 18 than those from the richest households. Daughters are commonly married off as an economic survival strategy for poorer families. Higher poverty rates among ethnic minorities puts girls at higher risk of being married off early.
Level of education: 33% of women with no education were married before the age of 18, compared to only 1% who had completed tertiary education. A 2016 Young Lives study shows that being enrolled in school can decrease the likelihood of a young girl from a poor, rural, ethnic minority area getting married by 47%.
Harmful traditional practices: Vietnam has a long-standing traditional practice of parents arranging marriages for their children. At the community level, traditional and customary law still enables young girls to be married off with the consent of parents and other authorities. Although illegal, the practice of hai pu (bride kidnapping), with girls being taken from their homes and forcibly married, is particularly prevalent among Hmong communities. Social pressure and fear of becoming a “left over girl” also drive girls to marry early.
Pre-marital sex:Some girls reportedly marry because they are afraid of getting pregnant outside of marriage and transgressing strict Vietnamese social norms.
Gender norms:A2016 Young Livesstudy shows that girls who have mothers with little decision-making power are more at risk of marrying early.
Ethnicity: Child marriage is highly concentrated in mountainous areas, especially among ethnic minorities (namely the Hmong, Xinh Mun, La Ha, Gia Rai, Raglay, and Bru-Van Kieu) in the northern mountains, where it’s been reported that 50% to 60% of marriages involve minors.
Bride trafficking: Vietnamese girls are reportedly being sold as wives to Chinese men as a result of China’s gender imbalance.
What international, regional and national commitments has Vietnam made?
Vietnam has committed to eliminate child, early and forced marriage by 2030 in line with target 5.3 of the Sustainable Development Goals. Vietnam reported progress made to address child marriage through its Annual Plan to Minimise Teen Marriage and Consanguineous Marriage in Ethnic Minorities in its 2018 National Voluntary Review at the High Level Political Forum, the main mechanism through which countries report progress on implementing the Sustainable Development Goals.
Vietnam co-sponsored the 2015 Human Rights Council resolution to end child, early and forced marriage, recognising that it is a violation of human rights; and the 2018 and 2020 UN General Assembly resolutions on child, early and forced marriage.
Vietnam has committed to the ASEAN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Violence against Children (2013), which acknowledges the importance of strengthening ASEAN efforts to protect children from all forms of violence, including early marriage.
Vietnam ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1990, which sets a minimum age of marriage of 18, and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1982, which obligates states to ensure free and full consent to marriage.
In 2015, the CEDAW Committee raised concerns about the prevalence of harmful practices such as child marriage in Vietnam, and that the legal age for marriage is lower for women than men.
During its 2019 Universal Periodic Review, Vietnam recognised difficulties to end child marriage among ethnic communities, and agreed to review recommendations to continue carrying out policies to prevent the practise and review the law on marriage and family with a view to setting the same minimum age for marriage for women and men.
In 2019, at the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25, Vietnam committed to intensify their efforts and provide sufficient funding towards ending sexual and gender-based violence, including zero child, early and forced marriage, through evidenced and human rights-based policies and guidelines.
Vietnam is one of the countries where the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)/DREAMS Initiative is working to reduce rates of HIV among adolescent girls and young women.
Vietnam is a partner country of the Global Partnership for Education.
What is the government doing to address child marriage?
UNFPA Vietnam called for an end to child marriage on Valentine’s Day in February 2022, as part of promotion of the “Enhancing awareness of ethnic minority children and young people on human trafficking and child marriage through digital technology” (EMPoWR) project that is co-funded by the Delegation of the European Union and Plan International in Belgium, and is a product of collaboration between many organisations: the Institute for Social Development Studies (ISDS), Plan International in Vietnam, the Department of Children under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, and other agencies and will eventually be rolled out in 52 communes across four provinces – Ha Giang, Lai Chau, Quang Binh and Quang Tri – between 2020 to 2023.
As part of thie EMPoWR project, a digital platform “EmVui” (“Be Happy”) designed to support children and young people from ethnic minorities was launched in September 2021, with an aim to help prevent child marriage and human trafficking.
In January 2018, Vietnam enacted a new Criminal Code which strengthened child protection, including more severe penalties for child marriage and trafficking.
In 2015 the Prime Minister of Vietnam approved the “Reduction of Early and Inter-Family Marriage in Ethnic Minorities in the Period 2015-2025” project. As part of this project, the Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs has conducted trainings with staff, elders and influential individuals.
In 2016 an official from the National Committee for Ethnic Minorities said that the government should extend services to tackle child marriage, including reproductive health education, in native languages.
In June 2017 the Committee on Ethnic Minority Affairs and UN agencies held a National Conference on Preventing and Ending Child and Early Marriageto explore effective strategies and best practices. Building on the outcomes of this conference, UNICEF recommended Vietnam to take on a holistic approach to ending child marriage by empowering girls of all ethnicities, and tackling the root causes through socio-economic development.
According to a 2015 civil society report to CEDAW, whilst public campaigns on the prevention of child marriage have been widely conducted in Vietnam, these need to be more “target-group oriented” and there need to be more mechanisms available to support individuals at risk.
What is the minimum legal framework around marriage?
Under the Family and Marriage Law 2000 the minimum legal age of marriage is 18 years for girls and 20 years for boys with no exceptions.
Content featuring Vietnam
Report
Time to act! Accelerating efforts to end child, early and forced marriage in Asia
This report explores child marriage and interventions to address it across 14 countries in Asia.
Report
Child, early and forced marriage legislation in 37 Asia-Pacific countries
This report reviews child marriage laws in 37 countries in the Asia-Pacific region, providing country profiles for each of these countries.
Report
Unhappily ever after: slow and uneven progress in the fight against early marriage
"Unhappily ever after" explores how trends & prevalence of child marriage vary across regions. It provides a nuanced look at the web of disadvantages that girls at risk face.
Vietnam: the burden of being a child bride
- Brendan Rigby
Data sources
- ASEAN Commission on the Rights of Women and Children,The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women and Elimination of Violence against Children in ASEAN, 2013, http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Women/WG/ASEANdeclarationVaW_violenceagainstchildren.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- Committee for Ethnic Minority Affairs web portal, Training session to decrease the child marriage and near blood-relationship marriage in ethnic minority areas in Dak Lak, [website], 2018, http://english.ubdt.gov.vn/referencepage/ethnic-committee-with-local/training-session-to-decrease-the-child-marriage-and-near-blood-relationship-marriage-in-ethnic-minority-areas-in-dak-lak.htm (accessed January 2022).
- Gender and Community Development Network, Domestic Violence Prevention Network and Network for Empowerment of Women, Report on the Implementation of CEDAW in Vietnam 2007-2015, 2015, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/Treaties/CEDAW/Shared%20Documents/VNM/INT_CEDAW_NGO_VNM_20849_E.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- General Statistical Office (GSO), National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) and ORC Macro, Vietnam Population and AIDS Indicator Survey 2005, 2006, https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/AIS3/AIS3.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- Girls Not Brides, Vietnam: The burden of being a child bride, [website], 2013, https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/girls-voices/the-burden-of-being-a-child-bride-in-vietnam (accessed January 2022).
- Global Partnership for Education, Vietnam, [website], https://www.globalpartnership.org/where-we-work/vietnam (accessed January 2022).
- Human Rights Council, National report submitted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the annex to Human Rights Council resolution 16/21: Viet Nam, A/HRC/WG.6/32/VNM/1, 2018, p. 17, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/VNIndex.aspx (accessed January 2022).
- Human Rights Council, Report of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review: Viet Nam, A/HRC/41/7, 2019, p. 19, https://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/VNIndex.aspx (accessed January 2022).
- Human Rights Council, Summary of Stakeholders’ submissions on Viet Nam, A/HRC/WG.6/32/VNM/3, 2018, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G18/332/99/PDF/G1833299.pdf?OpenElement (accessed January 2022).
- Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and World Health Organization (WHO), Child, Early and Forced Marriage Legislation in 37 Asia-Pacific Countries, 2016, http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/gender_rights/cefm-asia-pacific/en (accessed January 2022).
- iSEE et. al., Child Marriage in Several Ethnic Minority Communities in Viet Nam: An Analysis from an Anthropological Perspective, 2017, http://isee.org.vn/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2017_ChildMarriage_Report_EN_FINAL.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- Jordana, A. D., Situational Analysis on Child, Early and Forced Marriage in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia, World Vision, 2017, https://www.wvi.org/end-violence-against-children-east-asia-region/publication/situational-analysis-child-early-and (accessed January 2022).
- Nairobi Summit, Vietnam commits evidenced and human rights based policies and guidelines towards zero sexual and gender-based violence, including zero child, early and forced marriage, [website], 2019, http://www.nairobisummiticpd.org/commitment/vietnam-commits-evidenced-and-human-rights-based-policies-and-guidelines-towards-zero-0 (accessed January 2022).
- UN CEDAW, Concluding observations on the combined seventh and eighth periodic reports of Vietnam, 2015, p.5, http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW/C/VNM/CO/7-8&Lang=En (accessed January 2022).
- UNFPA, Ending child marriage: towards a world where girls are free to dream, 2016, http://vietnam.unfpa.org/en/news/ending-child-marriage-towards-world-where-girls-are-free-dream (accessed January 2022).
- Vietnam Plus, Digital platform to educate young people on child marriage and human trafficking, 2021, https://en.vietnamplus.vn/digital-platform-to-educate-young-people-on-child-marriage-and-human-trafficking/209391.vnp(accessed January 2022).
- UNICEF Viet Nam and UNPFA Viet Nam, Ending child marriage, empowering girls, 2018, https://www.unicef.org/vietnam/reports/ending-child-marriage-empowering-girls (accessed January 2022).
- UNICEF, Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey: Vietnam, 2014, https://mics-surveys-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/MICS5/East%20Asia%20and%20the%20Pacific/Viet%20Nam/2013-2014/Final/Viet%20Nam%202013-14%20MICS_English.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- United Nations, Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform, [website], 2017, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdg5 (accessed January 2022).
- U.S. Department of State, United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, [website], 2019, https://www.state.gov/where-we-work-pepfar/(accessed January 2022).
- Vietnam, Viet Nam’s Voluntary National Review On The Implementation Of The Sustainable Development Goals, 2018, https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/19967VNR_of_Viet_Nam.pdf (accessed January 2022).
- VN Express, Child marriage persists in Vietnam's ethnic minority communities, [website], 2016, https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/child-marriage-persists-in-vietnam-s-ethnic-minority-communities-3489572.html (accessed January 2022).
- Voice of Vietnam, National conference addresses child, early marriage, [website], 2017, http://english.vov.vn/society/national-conference-addresses-child-early-marriage-352703.vov (accessed January 2022).
- Young Lives, Addressing the Risk Factors for Early Marriage in Vietnam, 2016, https://www.younglives.org.uk/sites/www.younglives.org.uk/files/YL-VIETNAM-PB3_Risk%20factors%20for%20early%20marriage.pdf (accessed January 2022).