• There are approximately 56,225,000 women aged 15–19 living in India, as of 2014.
• As of 2006,* the most recent year for which National Family Health Survey (NFHS) data are available, 71% of primary-school–aged girls were attending school, as were only 46% of secondary-school–aged women.
• Young Indian women have limited access to mass media: Among those aged 15–19, 59% had at least weekly exposure to television, 34% to radio and 29% to newspapers. Access was consistently higher in urban areas than in rural areas.
SEXUAL ACTIVITY, MARRIAGE AND BIRTHS
• In 2006, more than one-quarter (28%) of Indian women aged 15–19 reported having ever had sex.
• A total of 31% of women aged 15–19 had ever married: 28% who were cohabiting, plus 3% who were not yet living with their husband (i.e., they had yet to participate in the traditional gauna ceremony, which marks the onset of …