NEW DELHI: The mean age at effective marriage for females at the national level was 22.9 years, the Sample Registration System (SRS) statistical report 2023 has revealed. That’s a tad up from 22.7 in 2022. The report also highlighted that in a majority of states, most girls marry after the age of 18.However, in states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Chhattisgarh, a considerable proportion of females continue to marry before reaching 18 years of age. Also, there are variations in the mean age at effective marriage across states, ranging from 21.3 years in West Bengal to 26.3 years in J&K.A look at the data for five years from 2019 to 2023 reflects that the mean age at effective marriage for females, was 22.5 in 2021, 22.7 in 2020, and 22.1 in 2019.Though the mean age at marriage in both urban and rural areas has shown a consistent rise over the years, the rural-urban disparity remains significant, with the mean age being 22.4 years in rural areas and 24.3 years in urban areas in 2023. The report highlighted that this gap is consistently observed across India. In 2022, the mean age for rural areas was 22.2 years and for urban areas, 23.9.Since 1990, the SRS has been collecting data on the number of females who entered into effective marriage during each six-month reference period of the half-yearly survey. The mean age at effective marriage has been estimated on the basis of this information.At the national level, 2.1% of females got married before the age of 18, 25% got married between the ages of 18 and 20, and 72.9% got married at 21 or above. In rural areas, the corresponding percentages are 2.5%, 28.1% and 69.4%, respectively, while in urban areas, they are 1.2%, 17% and 81.8%, respectively.Among the bigger states/UTs, the highest proportion of females getting married before the age of 18 was observed in West Bengal (6.3%) and the lowest in Kerala (0.1%).