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Divorce granted to non-resident Indian (NRI) couples by UAE courts can be challenged in India. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: A recent report published in Abu Dhabi has highlighted the number of marriages and divorces carried out in the emirate during 2017.

The Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre (ADSC) released the Marriage and Divorce Statistics for the Abu Dhabi region, which showed that a total of 5,703 marriage contracts were registered in Abu Dhabi in 2017 – a 5.6 percent annual increase since 1975.  

The ADSC reported that marriages among Emiratis accounted for 71 per cent of the total contracts registered in 2017.

It also noted that number of registered divorces rose to 1,859 in 2017, an annual increase of 4.6 per cent since 1975. A total of 981 divorces were registered among Emiratis, which represented 52.8 per cent of the total number of divorces last year.

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The centre’s study reported that 28.5 per cent of divorce cases in 2017 did not complete one year, while 52.2 per cent of divorces took place in the first three years.

The report also found that the most popular month for marriage and divorce was in March while the least popular month was in June.

“The percentage of marriages between Emiratis was at 78.5 per cent, while marriages between an Emirati and a non-Emirati in 2017 accounted for 21.5 per cent,” read the report.  

The average age for marriage in Abu Dhabi stood at 28.9 years old for men and at 25.7 years old for women in 2017, while the average age of marriage for Emirati men and Emirati women was at 27.4 and 24.2 years old respectively.