Compared to Southeast Asia, Dhaka city represents an apparent anomaly: a rapidly growing metropolis with relatively little change in early marriage practices, with 51 percent of 15-19 year-old females in 2000 already married. The rapid influx of rural poor families to Dhaka has led to a rapid...

Structural and social inequalities, a harsh political economy and neglect on the part of the state have made married adolescent girls an extremely vulnerable group in the urban slum environment in Bangladesh. The importance placed on newly married girls' fertility results in high fertility rates...