The deputy of welfare in East Azerbaijan province reported that child marriages in the province have increased by 42 percent in the past two years and the province ranks second in the country. He also said that 14 percent of divorces in the past two years involved girls under 18 years old.

Fargol Sahaf added: "Out of 29770 marriages registered last year in East Azerbaijan, 12491 cases involve girls under the age of 18, meaning in 42 percent of all the marriages in 2018 and 2019, girls were under the age of 18.” Adding: “83 cases were boys under 18, which is almost one percent.”

According to Sahaf, the rate of child marriage increased from 7 percent in 2009 to 11 percent in 2019 in East Azerbaijan.

There have been 9814 divorce cases in the province, with 1266 involving girls under the age of 18.

Zanjan province has the highest rate of child marriages in the country for children married under 14 with 1400 cases in 2018.

Some Islamic Republic officials are against child marriage in Iran but due to objections from high-ranking clerics, no measures have been taken by the government to reduce these numbers.