Divorce rate in Dubai falls

The economic slowdown may have had a negative impact on the financial health of some of the country’s households, but data released by the Dubai Statistics Centre shows that divorce rate in Dubai inched down in the first quarter of this year while the number of marriage contracts issued jumped.

Dubai registered 978 marriage contracts in the first three months of this year, up from 903 in the same period last year – a jump of more than 8 per cent. At the same time, the number of divorces remained nearly constant – 187 in Q1 2010 and 185 in Q1 2009, with the divorce rate in effect declining from 20.5 per cent in the first three months of 2009 to 19.1 per cent in the same period of this year.

A decline in the divorce rate most definitely points to a strengthening of family values and bonds in Dubai despite the financial turmoil. Anecdital evidence suggests that the incidence of divorce has gone up due to the financial stress caused by the economic turmoil.

Belgium has the highest divorce rate in the world, with 59.8 divorces per 100 marriages, followed by Sweden (53.9 divorces per 100 marriages), the Czech Republic (53.7), Finland (53.2) and Hungary (49.9). Figures released by the Juma’a al Majid Centre for Culture and Heritage show a national divorce rate of 34 per cent in the UAE.

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