The Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) commit to leaving no one behind and include a global target (SDG 5.3) to eliminate child marriage by 2030. To augment the evidence base on adolescents that are hardest to reach, GAGE's research sample explicitly includes not only girls at risk of child marriage, but those already married or divorced.

Of the 997 older girls (age 15–17) who completed the survey, 18% – almost exclusively Syrian – had already been married. These girls were disadvantaged across many domains. It also highlighted married girls' social isolation, their susceptibility to gender-based violence and their lack of voice and agency.

Findings in Jordan underscore the importance of outreach to ensure that policy, services and programmes engage with these highly vulnerable girls – especially those from marginalised refugee communities.