Saudi Arabia has an average one divorce case every half an hour, one of the highest rates in the world, and experts blame the contractual Misyar marriage for the problem.

In 2010, the Gulf Kingdom recorded 18,765 divorces, a rate of more than 35 per cent of the marriages, according to official statistics.

“This is far above the international rate of between 18 and 22 per cent…in some years, it exceeded 40 per cent in the Kingdom,” said Sheikh Saeed Al Yousuf, head of courts in the northeastern Saudi town of Tabuk.

A Saudi social expert, quoted by the Saudi Alarabiya news network, described the high divorce rate in the world’s oil superpower as an “alarming indicator.”

“Without measures to tackle this high rate, it will lead to serious social problems in the future,” said Mohammed Al Atiq, a social expert.

Alarabiya quoted another expert as saying the introduction of Misyar marriage into the Kingdom was the main cause for the surge in divorce rates.

“Misyar is the main factor….this is because when the man’s first wife discovers that her husband married another woman under Misyar contract, he will feel danger and this will prompt him to divorce the second wife easily…Misyar is seen as a temporary marriage and that is why divorce rates have increased in the Kingdom,” said Sheikh Mohammed Al Falaj, a family affair consultant.

A Misyar contract is a marriage contract where couples can live separately but get together regularly, often for sexual relations.

Although allowed in Saudi Arabia and under Sunni Islam, Misyar is not popular with many who see it as legal prostitution. Women lose nearly all their rights in a Misyar marriage and nearly 80 per cent of Misyar relationships end in divorce.