Abu Dhabi: Divorce cases in Saudi Arabia have shot up after the curfew was lifted to 4,079 cases in July from just 134 cases in April, local media reported.
Monthly data issued by the Saudi Ministry of Justice indicated that 53 per cent of the total July divorce certificates were issued in Riyadh and Mecca and that the number of divorce bonds issued daily across all regions of the Kingdom ranged between 117 and 289.
Monthly divorce cases for the previous 12 months ranged between 134 and 7,500.
Marriage contracts
The Ministry of Justice added that the number of marriage contracts in July was more than 19,000, an increase of 47 per cent over the number issued in the same month last year.
Weddings among Saudi citizens accounted for 94 per cent of the total marriage contracts in the Kingdom, 38 per cent of the total marriage contracts were issued in Mecca and Riyadh and the number of marriage contracts issued per day ranged between 495 and 1,304.
Causes of divorce
Lawyer Assem Al Mulla said the reasons for divorce include cruelty, sexual defects childlessness,role conflict (or authority), physical assault, chronic disease, age disparatey, unduly large family, and immaturity at marriage.
Other causes include domineering nature, irritable nature, impotency, barrenness, and mental deficiency.
Family counsellor Ahmed Al Ghamdi said pushing children to marry at an early age is one of the main reasons for raising the divorce rates in Saudi Arabia.
He said Saudi families often marry their children at an early age, when the son may not appreciate marital life and not know that marriage is a responsibility.
“In the first months of marrigae, the son begins to feel bored and asks to return to a life of freedom, and from here the problems between the spouses begin and eventually lead to divorce,” Al Ghamdi said.
He added that under-25s who wed are more likely to break up.
“The parts of our brains that control our ability to think things over, not be reactive, not engage in risky behaviour, aren’t fully developed for a lot of people until their mid-20s," he said.
"And most people aren’t financially ready to marry before 25 — they’re completing schooling or entering work."
