Divorce rates in Cairo rise over marriage rates: CAPMAS

CAIRO – 26 February 2018: Divorce rates in Egypt are witnessing a noticeable increase compared to marriage rates, according to a report issued on Monday by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).

In a February report, it was stated that divorce rates increased by 6.5 percent from December 2016 to December 2017. The number of divorce forms issued in December 2017 were 14,000, compared to 13,000 during the same month of 2016.

Marriage rates witnessed a relative increase as well, but the rate of separations was much more than any other measured by CAPMAS. Marriage rates increased by 4.3 percent in December 2017, compared to the rate measured in December 2016.

The report concluded its statistics by mentioning the exact numbers of divorce and marriage papers issued during 2016 (from January to December). The marriage papers amounted to 983,000 forms, while the divorce forms reached 192,000.

As a Middle Eastern country, divorce was never an easy option especially for women who are usually subject to social pressure after divorce as their families start imposing a lot of restrictions on their behaviors and activities. However, some women started to disregard the traditional constraints; divorce rates have become higher than ever in Egypt.

Additionally, social defaming of women and girls is not limited to divorced women, but also affects women who pass a certain age (usually mid-thirties) without getting married. The number of unmarried women and men is likely to increase (according to the official statistics) with the difficult social and economic conditions.