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29 March 2024

Number of Saudi spinsters to hit 4m in five years

Published
By Staff

Saudi Arabia has nearly 1.5 million spinsters and the number could soar to more than four million in the next five years because of the high divorce rate, according to a local social study published in Saudi newspapers on Sunday.

During 2009, nearly 60,000 couples tied the knot in the Gulf kingdom but there were more than 18,000 divorce cases, said the study released by the “My Family Society” in the Central town of Medina.

“This means that the kingdom is suffering from a marriage failure rate of nearly 30 per cent,” said the study, to be presented to City Council for discussion.

“As a result, Saudi Arabia is suffering from a high number of female spinsters, who are now estimated at 1.5 million….the number could rise above four million in the next five years,” the study said.

It attributed the surge in divorce rates in the world’s top crude exporter to what it described as “the new negative attitude of the Saudi character” because of social and economic changes brought about by the discovery of oil.

“There is a need for a plan to reverse these attitudes…the plan must cover men and women seeking to marry and the families which marry their children.”