Dhaka, Dec. 17 -- An icddr,b study revealed on Wednesday an alarming picture of early marriage, intimate partner violence and high rates of mistimed pregnancies among newlywed couples in informal settlements of Bangladesh.

The two-year cohort study conducted by AdSEARCH of icddr,b revealed that among the participating women, 43 per cent in rural areas and 65 per cent in urban informal settlements were married before the age of eighteen.

Within the first year of marriage, nearly three-quarters (73 per cent) of women became pregnant, despite many women, particularly those living in urban informal settlements, expressing a clear desire to delay childbearing. Nearly half of these pregnancies were mistimed or unintended, it added.

The study...