KUWAIT CITY, 15 March 2004 — The number of divorces rose to more than one third of all marriages in Kuwait in 2003, a newspaper quoted a Justice Ministry official as saying yesterday.
The rate of divorce recorded last year was 35.6 percent, up from 34.2 percent in 2002 and 34.1 percent in 2001, head of the legal documentation department Ibrahim Al-Tabtabae told Al-Qabas daily.
He said that 13,352 marriages were documented last year compared to 4,760 divorce cases.
The rate was even higher among Kuwaiti citizens who number just 900,000. With about 8,000 marriages between Kuwaiti couples last year, there were 2,900 divorce cases, a rate of 36.3 percent, the official said.
Divorce amongst the expatriate population, some 1.6 million in the emirate, was 30.2 percent of marriages.
Tabtabae blamed family interference, mistreatment and jealousy as the main causes of divorce.
The government has established a special office for marriage counseling services to counter the growing number of divorces, especially among newly-weds.
High wedding costs and dowries have left as many as 40,000 Kuwaiti women unmarried according to unofficial estimates. About 20 percent of Kuwaiti men opt to marry foreigners.
