Arab Divorce Rates Spike Upwards as Symptom of Social Crisis

ALBAWABA - Divorce rates are shooting upwards in the Arab world for a variety of reasons. 

A latest report compiled by the Egyptian Cabinet Information Centre comes up with shocking results suggesting that Egypt - at a million divorces every year with an average of 240 divorces daily - doesn't rank first in the Arab world. 

The report shows its Kuwait who gets first place for the highest divorce rate in the Arab world at 48 percent followed by Jordan and Qatar at 37.2 percent and 37 percent in third and fourth places respectively followed by Lebanon and the UAE at 34 percent, Sudan at 30 percent, Iraq at 22.7 percent and Saudi at 21.5 percent.  

The divorce report is trending on the social media under links such as this one  with plenty of images that include a hand kicking the ring. The divorce rates reflect the much social change going on in the Arab world. 

Or this image is interesting with laws making it easy for women to get divorces in the Arab world especially against abusive husbands and domestic violence that increased during the Covid-19 pandemic from the early 2020 onwards:

The report in the Jordan Times focuses on the Kingdom and asks the question why the soaring divorce rates? Sociologist Dr Hussein Khozahe tells the daily that according to the Department of Statistics, the unemployment rate among married couples in the Kingdom is 24.9 per cent.

“The main reason behind high rates of divorce is the economic factor. Married couples cannot handle the finances and costs of living, especially in the early stages of married life, given that many people are surprised by the size of spending after getting used to living with parents and not spending or contributing to any expenses,” Khozahe said.

He added that others file for divorce due to low wages which make some people unable to support a family and pints out “divorce has become an escape from the inability to secure a decent living.”