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Child marriage in the United States is defined by the US Department of State as "a formal marriage or informal union where one or both parties is under the age of 18." Most child marriages in the US, and internationally, involve underage women.

Laws against child marriage
The age of marriage in the United States is 18, with the exception of Nebraska (19) and Mississippi (21). Every state allows exceptions to their age of marriage. Most states allow marriage at 16 and 17 with parental consent, and some states also make exceptions subject to judicial approval, or cases of pregnancy. When all exceptions are taken into assent, 27 US jurisdictions have no minimum age requirement. 24 of the jurisdictions have a minimum age in these cases, the youngest being 13 (New Hampshire, females only ).

Statistics by jurisdiction
Statistics released by the Pew Research Center show that nearly 5 in every 1,000 15-17 year olds in the United States are married. Child marriage is generally more common in the southern United States.

Unchained at Last found that between 2000 and 2010 more than 167,000 children, were married during that period. They found that in most of the cases, girls were marrying men aged 18 or older, and at least 31% of these marriages were to a spouse aged 21 or older. Based on the correlation between population and incidence of child marriage, they estimated that nearly 248,000 children were married in the US during that time.

Idaho
Idaho has the highest rate of child marriage of the states with available data. Between 2000 and 2010, 55% of girls under the age of 16 were married to men aged 18 or older.

New York
According to NPR, around 3,800 children were married between 2000 and 2010 in the state of New York.

Virginia
Until 2016, it was legal for girls aged 13 above to be married in the state of Virginia. According to the Tahirh Justice Center, between 2004 and 2013 nearly 4,500 children under 18 were married in Virginia.

Statistics by gender
Young females are more likely to be married than young males. According to statistics released by the Pew Research Center (based upon the American Community Survey):
 * 55% of those married at ages of 15-17 are female;
 * 66% of those married between the ages of 18-19 are female;
 * 60% of those married between the ages of a 20-24 are female.

Causes of child marriage
See causes of child marriage.

Consequences of child marriage
Also see consequences of child marriage.

Women married at age 18 or younger are 23% more likely to suffer from a heart attack. Women married before the age of 18 are also more likely to suffer from psychiatric disorders.

Initiatives to prevent child marriage

 * Released in 2016, the US Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls lists reducing child, early and forced marriage as a vital goal.
 * In 2013, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act mandated that the the US Secretary of State must 'establish and implement a multi-year, multi-sectoral strategy to end child marriage.'