‘Annual divorce cases expected to reach 13,500’

AMMAN — Receiving premarital training on choosing a “suitable” spouse and starting a family can lower the “increasing” number of divorce cases, according to field experts.

The number of annual divorce cases is expected to exceed 13,500, including some 5,600 divorces before the consummation of marriage, which constitutes around 40 per cent of all cases, according to a recent study by the Social Development Ministry.

The study, which observed divorce cases from 2002 to 2013, indicated that the number of cases increases annually.  

The ministry’s spokesperson, Fawaz Ratrout, attributed the rising number of divorces before the consummation of marriage to the “wrong choice of spouse”.

“Having a large gap between husband and wife at the educational or economic level usually results in divorce,” Ratrout told The Jordan Times on Sunday, highlighting the role of compatibility in the success of a marriage. 

Family interference was the major reason behind divorces after the consummation of marriage, in addition to other factors like men’s inadequate contribution to raising children and running the house, he said.

He noted that the chance of divorce increases among young couples, while it decreases in families with children, noting that children with divorced parents are “more likely to be aggressive and are at a higher risk of depression”.

High divorce rates exhaust the ministry’s social services, including allowances for divorced women and shelters for children, Ratrout said.

“It is time to prevent [divorce] before it occurs,” Ratrout said, calling for instilling the culture of dialogue in families and educational institutions as well as educating those about to get married on how to choose a suitable partner.

He suggested the Malaysian experience as a successful example.

“Before getting married, couples are asked to earn a marriage licence, which they can only receive after attending extensive training on marital relations and principles of raising children. After that they have to pass tests on what they learned,” he said.

Ratrout said such measures can create “qualified” marriage partners.

Hussein Khuzai, associate professor of sociology at Balqa Applied University, agreed with Ratrout on the need for pre-marriage awareness sessions in light of the fact that 25 per cent of all marriages end in divorce.

He said spouses-to-be must know about their rights and duties in marriage, including cooperation, mutual respect and forgiveness, warning of the negative effects of divorce on the family and the entire community.

“People tend to develop a negative view of marriage, in addition to the social, psychological and financial issues that arise,” he told The Jordan Times.

A total of 3,339 divorce cases were registered at the Kingdom’s religious courts in 2013, including 2,479 cases before the consummation of marriage, according to the Chief Islamic Justice Department.