RIYADH, 31 December — The Shoura Council has invited 50 female experts to debate the high cost of dowries which has become a major obstacle to marriage in the Kingdom, the council’s secretary-general, Hamoud Al-Badr, said yesterday.

The rare move to invite women to the all-male advisory body comes amid reports that the number of Saudi spinsters has soared to more than 1.5 million in a society of just 16 million people.

The women will not be allowed to sit in the same meeting hall with men because of the strict segregation of the sexes law. They will be able to listen and take part in the debate through closed circuit television.

The debate will focus on the reasons why dowries have become so expensive with parents of girls demanding more than SR200,000 ($53,000) from prospective husbands.

Male experts have also been invited to take part in the discussion along with the 120 members of the council.

The dowry problem is compounded by rising unemployment estimated at more than 15 percent, and which has forced young men to delay marriage plans. In addition to the huge dowry and jewelry for the bride, the groom also pays the expenses of the wedding party.

The average dowry demanded by the parents for the hand of a girl ranges from SR30,000 to SR50,000 for virgins and from SR30,000 to SR20,000 for divorcees or widows.

The amount of dowry varies from region to region, and many families boast of the huge amount of dowry they receive for their girls. However, there are parents who demand only a token amount from the grooms and they even help the men financially to set up a family.

According to the latest figures released by the Ministry of Planning, the number of unmarried women in the Kingdom is 1.52 million. The Makkah region tops the list with 396,000 unmarried women, followed by Riyadh with 327,000 and the Eastern Province with 228,000.

In the southern province of Asir, their number is 130,000 followed by Madinah with 95,000, Jizan with 84,000 and Tabuk with 36,000. Their lowest number — 21,000 — is in the Northern Border Province. The study also found of the 4.57 million young women, 2.6 million remain married.

The Shoura yesterday asked the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to prepare a database on Saudis seeking employment for the use of decision-makers in the government. It also urged the ministry to compile statistics on expatriate workers in the country.