Jakarta, June 17 -- The National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN)'s public health and nutritional researcher, Herti Windya Puspasari, highlighted the social threat of child marriage, which is rampant in rural areas.

During an online discussion held here on Tuesday, she presented data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) showing that between 2008 and 2018, the percentage of child marriage in villages reached 16.87 percent, significantly higher than in cities, which stood at 7.15 percent.

"The fluctuating increase each year indicates that a systematic and integrated effort is needed to reduce the number of child marriages," she said.

She explained several factors have contributed to the increased rate of child marriage cases, including p...