I have to admit, that looks damned weird on the face of it. It's the sort of headline that's usually followed by a caveat such as " the marriage must be confirmed at the age of 18 before it becomes official", and I really hope that this is the case. Although it's never easy to tell with the States...

Classic Ogion immediately blames all problems on Trump. Of course we need to blame these "deplorables" and "white supremacists" for our problems.

I would not be surprised that Child Marriages are more common in liberal states like California, because we need to respect cultures despite how messed up they can be. Conservatives I doubt like child marriages because they mess up tradition.

I didn't get the sense that that post in particular was attacking Trump: more like acknowledging the necessity of someone like him for sweeping reforms to improve the lot of the average citizen.

Except that the data show that they are much more common in the south, which I already knew from having looked at this previously. It is strongly tired to conservative white and Latino households with lower incomes and education levels. Blacks and Asians marry later. Urban people marry later. Richer people very rarely have minor marriage. Of course conservative populists types immediately want to blame it on immigrants and embracing diversity. You can't make this stuff up.

Also, , for those with decent reading comprehension a skills (e.g., not Zach) will notice that I don't blame Trump but suggest that Trump is a consequence. Pro-tip, the word "hence" implies a consequence, not an antecedent).

I haven't looked at this closey yet, but I remember a few years back having a similar discussion. One of the main differences between Europe and the US, is that consent ages and bethroval ages are naturally lower in Europe. Because of this, kids that get married 16-17 in the US get thrown into the child bride category whereas in much of Europe this stuff is legalized. That said, there could be an overall age discrepancy in not seeing, in just restating what I remember, I'll check out that article in a bit, I very well could be wrong

Also - I'll know once I actually have time to read the article - is this a per capital analysis, or just a total size analysis, because country for country we're much bigger than European nations?

UNICEF defines all US marriages with the bride under 18 as child Brides, and in the EU, there is discretion to individual nation states. Apparently it's worse in the balkans, which also makes sense

Personally I wouldn't mind some legislation passed to stop this though

Balkans my friend is not the third world, not even close. But mind that, half the area passed through hell with an all-out war which lasted a decade, the other half is deep in an economic crisis which is near a decade now. That means poverty for many, and a low lifespan. That brings early marriage in an effort to get offspring soon so you are able to rise them. And still, marriage under 18 is illegal and needs special circumstances to happen and not a common thing at all. To this exclude muslims which have tradition to marry young for both men and women (during my army tenure I had a soldier which was 20 and had already a kid)
And, trust me I know what I am saying, I live in Greece.