There has been a 47 percent increase in lawsuits brought by women to divorce their husbands over the past year, to 2,033 cases, according to statistics released by the Justice Ministry.

The cases, known as khula, took place up until the end of the Hijri year, or Oct. 23 this year. There were 512 cases in Makkah region, 324 in Riyadh and 191 in the Eastern Province.

There were also an increasing number of lawsuits filed by husbands wanting their wives to return home over the past year, rising from 92 to 705 in Makkah, 36 to 541 in Riyadh, 148 to 319 in the Eastern Province, followed by Madinah and Qassim. Over the past four years, 624 separate marriage-related cases were brought by women against their husbands, with 187 filed by men against their wives.

The ministry stated that there were 100,000 marriages in the country over the past year. Riyadh had the most marriages at 30,000, followed by Makkah with 27,646 and the Eastern Province with 8,686.

Meanwhile, the ministry said it would soon launch a “divorce index” that would have statistics, reasons for breakups, and its social effects.

The project, aimed at finding solutions to divorces, would be launched next year in Makkah, Madinah, Riyadh, Dammam and Jeddah courts.

The Weaam association for family affairs would soon launch workshops, with government support, that would provide advice to couples on how to deal with conflict. There would also be workshops for those planning to get married.

 
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