Child marriage, teenage pregnancy and school dropout are intricately linked and present serious, interrelated challenges for girls globally—and in Africa. An effec­tive, holistic framework to use in addressing these challenges is the “CTS nexus,” which refers to the connections and interactions between child marriage, teen pregnancy and school dropout. This factsheet provides selected statistics about each issue to help you understand the extent and overlapping nature of the problems and their impact on African girls’ overall ability to determine their own futures and meet their full potential.