Children aged 12 to 17 years being currently or formerly married or living together with a partner without civil or traditional recognition experienced a significant decline in 2021.

According to data from the Ghana Statistical Service (GSS), the number of people who were married as minors fell from 206,633 in 2010 to 130,814 in 2021.

That means there has been a 75,819 decline. This shows a 36.6% drop from 2010 to 2021. In 2010, the number of girls was 112,089, while the number of males was 94,554. Boys made up 45.8% of the children in unions, while girls made up 54.2% in 2010.

The number of females fell from 112,089 to 79,733 while the number of boys fell from 94,554 to 51,081 in 2021. In age distribution, the data indicated that those who were 17 years old had the highest percentage of children in marital unions with over 31,000 in number.

Additionally, in 2021, the proportion of men to women who were involved in child marriage was 39.0% for men and 61.0% for women. Despite the drop, GSS indicated that as of 2021, children aged 12 to 15 years in marital partnerships are five times the capacity of Legon Sports Stadium.

Furthermore, over 100,000 children were in a union in 2021, despite a reduction in the number and percentage of children who had ever been in a union over the previous 10 years.

Though the national rate decreased by nearly half during the intercensal period, the number of child marriages rose in five regions (Northern, North East, Savannah, Upper East, and Upper West) between 2010 and 2021.

The North East region has the greatest rate of child marriage among all regions, with one in every 10 youngsters aged 12 to 17 years engaging in a marital union.

In Ghana, a National Strategic Framework on Ending Child Marriage (2017–2026) was created in 2016. The goal of several policies, including the Gender Policy (2015), the Justice for Children Policy (2016), and the Child and Family Welfare Policy (2015), is to continue reducing the number of child marriages.