Niger

Facts

According to the last estimates, nearly two thirds of Niger’s population is below 18 years of age.

Niger is the country with the highest rate of child marriage in the world. In 2015, 76% of women aged 20-24 years old were married before 18. In the region of Diffa, the rate is even higher: the percentage reaches 89%.

Niger is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for labour and sexual purposes, mainly because of caste-based slavery practices. Girl victims are subjected to trafficking for sexual purposes within the country and along the border with Nigeria, sometimes with the complicity of their families. In the Tahoua region, girl slaves are forced to marry men who buy them as “fifth wives” and subject them to forced labor and sexual servitude (wahaya).