Riyadh, November 16, 2022 The Family Affairs Council held today a family seminar entitled “Divorce Numbers and Statistics – Effects and Implications on the Family and Society” with the participation of the concerned authorities represented by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Development, the Public Prosecution, the Audiovisual Media Authority, the King Abdulaziz Center for National Dialogue, Mawada Association to reduce the effects of divorce, members of the Council’s Women Committee, and a number of specialists and experts in family affairs.
The seminar is part of the Council’s role in preserving the family structure and strengthening its cohesion by monitoring the issues and challenges it faces to develop practical solutions that contribute to addressing them in partnership with the relevant authorities. The seminar aims to discuss media reports about the high divorce rates in the Kingdom by 2022, to correct the misconceptions that these figures have formed among young people of both sexes about the institution of marriage, and to contribute to forming a positive image of it.
The Council refutes these incorrect figures and statistics that contradict the official statistics and inputs of the Ministry of Justice, which confirmed a decrease in divorce rates by 16% during 2022 compared to 2021 (from January to October) and an increase in marriage rates by 19% during 2021 compared to 2020. Marriages in the first half of 2022 reached 107,263 cases, with 303 marriages registered every day, an average of 12 cases per hour.
The reasons for this positive decrease in divorce rates are due to the improved environment of legislative and legal systems. The issuance of the Personal Status Law within the projects of the specialized legislative system announced by His Highness the Crown Prince – may God protect him – played a role in preserving the family and its stability, and the decision of the Minister of Justice to refer divorce requests to the Reconciliation Center in a compulsory manner contributed to the success of reconciliatory initiatives that end in amicable solutions that prevent the decision to separate, which led to a decrease in divorce rates (in cases) by 22%.
The Family Symposium addressed topics that discussed the reality of divorce in Saudi society based on official figures and statistics based on scientific studies and field surveys conducted by the relevant authorities on the subject of divorce, shedding light on the causes of divorce through an enlightened vision in modern transformations, exchanging dialogue on its implications on the family and community fabric and its expected threats, its social, legal and economic effects on the family, the role of specialized and reliable consultations on the reality of the family today, in addition to the role of the media in raising awareness about family issues, and concluded with directives and enablers to reach a
On this occasion, the Secretary-General of the Family Affairs Council, Ms. Haila Al-Mikrash, stressed that the Council is keen to monitor the most important issues and challenges facing the family on an ongoing basis, and works through holding this seminar to strengthen the partnership with the authorities related to the issue of divorce to discuss its dimensions on the family and society, to come up with solutions that are beneficial and have a positive impact on the family entity, and indicated the importance of joint work to activate the positive role of the media and activists in the family field and direct them to take into account the public interests to enhance the mental image of the institution of marriage.
