Divorce cases increase by 21 %

There were 406 marriages every day in Saudi Arabia last year against 85 divorce cases, Al-Hayat newspaper reported Wednesday quoting official statistics of the Justice Ministry. The statistics said a total of 148,000 marriages were registered in all regions of the Kingdom last year against 31,000 divorce cases. The ministry said the divorce cases rose by 21 percent last year compared to marriages and added that 3,449 marriages were nullified by court rules. According to the ministry, Riyadh had 8,292 divorces followed by Makkah with 8,200, the Eastern Province 3,094, Asir 2,780, Qasim 1,423 and Tabuk 1,101. The ministry said one of the couples in 16,415 marriages conducted last year was non-Saudi and added that 2,373 Saudis married non-Saudi women. It said 129,600 marriages were conducted by marriage officials (mazouns) and 18,400 were made by judges in courts. It said Saudi men married 1,265 Yemeni women, 127 Syrians, 117 Pakistanis, 80 Palestinians and 72 Egyptians. The ministry said 2,122 Saudi women married foreigners last year. Of them, 557 were married to Yemenis, 462 to Kuwaitis, 222 to Qataris and 113 to Syrians.