Thousands of East Java Girls Forced into Early Marriage, Entrenching Intergenerational Poverty

The rate of child marriage in East Java Province remains alarmingly high. Throughout 2023, 12,334 marriage dispensation requests were recorded in religious courts across East Java—a decrease from 15,095 cases in 2022, but still far from the expected level, with the majority involving girls under the age of 19. Social researchers identify this phenomenon as one of the primary causes of structural poverty that is difficult to break in East Java.

Data from the East Java Central Statistics Agency (BPS) shows that the regencies with the highest child marriage rates—Sampang, Bangkalan, Bondowoso, and Situbondo—also rank lowest in the province’s Human Development Index (IPM). Academics suggest this correlation is not coincidental.

Since the revision of the Marriage Law No. 16 of 2019, which raised the minimum marriage age for women to 19, the religious court dispensation route has become increasingly busy. Although the provincial number of dispensations fell from 17,151 in 2021 to 15,095 in 2022 and 12,334 in 2023, patterns in certain regencies remain concerning. In 2025, the Ministry of Religious Affairs’ SIMKAH system recorded 7,590 marriages involving under-19s in East Java, with 6,453 cases involving child brides. The Sampang Religious Court is one of the courts with the highest volume of dispensation cases. Supreme Court records indicate that approximately 89 percent of marriage dispensation requests in East Java are granted by local religious courts. The most common reasons cited are the bride-to-be already being pregnant (48 percent), followed by family economic reasons (31 percent), and customary or family pressure (21 percent).

One of the most tangible impacts of child marriage is the disruption of education. A 2024 survey by the East Java Office of Women’s Empowerment, Child Protection, and Population (DP3AK) found that 91 percent of women married under the age of 18 did not continue their formal education afterwards. More than half did not even complete junior high school. This situation directly blocks women’s access to decent employment. Without diplomas and skills, they are forced to depend entirely on their husbands, who in many cases are also young and lack higher education.

From a macroeconomic perspective, the impact of child marriage on East Java is significant. A 2023 study by the East Java Regional Development Planning Agency (Bappeda) and an international institution estimated that the loss of women’s productivity due to child marriage contributes to regional economic losses of Rp 4.2 trillion per year, equivalent to nearly two percent of the provincial budget. Furthermore, the high maternal mortality rate, partly triggered by high-risk teenage pregnancies, burdens the provincial health budget. East Java records show that 23 percent of maternal deaths in 2023 occurred in the 15-19 age group, an age medically unprepared for pregnancy and childbirth.

A number of non-governmental organisations and academics are urging the East Java Provincial Government to take more concrete steps. The East Java branch of the Indonesian Women’s Coalition has requested that the distribution of social assistance not become a disincentive for families to educate their daughters. The Head of East Java DP3AK stated that the agency has established seven priority programmes for 2025, including accelerating the prevention of child marriage and strengthening the Technical Implementation Unit for the Protection of Women and Children (UPTD PPA) in all regencies and cities. The agency is integrating family mentoring programmes, scholarships for girls, and reproductive health education into a single, unified intervention package. The Chair of the East Java MUI Education Commission stressed that early marriage requires significant mental readiness to avoid negative consequences for the household and children.

Behind the bleak statistics, there are small stories of hope. In Bondowoso Regency, a special scholarship programme for girls rolled out by an Islamic philanthropic organisation has succeeded in reducing the school dropout rate in three sub-districts by 60 percent over two years. Hundreds of teenage girls who were almost married off are now continuing their education to senior high school and even university. This success proves that change is possible, provided there is real intervention, not just rhetoric.