There has been a rise in divorce cases in the Sultanate of Oman, and the total number of divorce certificates registered in the country in 2021 touched 3,837, registering an increase of 12 per cent over 2020. Average 10 divorce certificates per day were issued in 2021, according to the statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
Muscat Governorate topped with 853 certificates, corresponding to 22.2 per cent followed by North Al Batinah (723) certificates. Musandam Governorate has the lowest number with 25 divorce certificates.
Relationship experts attributed this to a number of facts, including the pandemic and job losses among others.
"Worldwide, an increasing number of cases of domestic violence, psychological issues among men, women and children were reported and a spurt in divorce cases can be attributed to Covid-19 pandemic when people were confined to houses," says a relationship expert.
Meanwhile, increase in the number of marriages was also registered in the country.
"As many as 39,000 marriages were registered in 2021 and 38 per cent of the total married Omanis are in the age group of 30-39 years which includes 49 per cent men and 51 per cent women," the report added.
Muscat Governorate registered the highest number of marriages in 2021. With 3,980 marriages, there was an increase of 18.6 per cent over 2020, followed by North Al Batinah (3,783), a decrease of 4 per cent. Marriage documents decreased in the governorate by 2.2 per cent, compared to 2020.
Some 34,000 of who got married were first timers, while 66 per cent of job-seekers remained unmarried. The average age of Omani married couples is 42 years.
The number of Omani divorcees during 2021 reached 6,000, bringing the total number of Omani divorced women to 41,549 by the end of 2021, constituting 2.4 per cent of the total Omanis (15 years and over). Males constituted 35 per cent of them, while women constituted 65 per cent.
With regard to the marital status of Omanis by educational level until 2021, the data indicated that 25 per cent of married Omanis hold a higher education diploma or higher, 37.7 per cent of them hold a General Education Diploma, and 25.1 per cent of them hold a certificate without a General Education Diploma.
The release indicated that 73 per cent of working Omanis (15-64 years) are married, while the percentage of unmarried job-seekers reached 66 per cent.
The NCSI report further suggests that the number of marriage documents in the country increased by 3.6 per cent in 2021, compared to the same period in 2020; where 19,294 marriage documents were registered, an average of 53 marriage documents per day.
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