36 pc of 833,861 citizens in age group of 15 & above ‘unmarried’ – Divorce becomes easy among Kuwaitis: Dr Muhaini

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KUWAIT CITY, March 5: Recent statistic report from the Public Authority for Civil Information (PACI) revealed that 833,861 citizens are in the age group of 15 years old and above, among them 292,409 representing 36 percent are unmarried and 457,455 constituting 54.8 percent of the group are married.

The report indicated the number of widows (men and women) is 29,102, which represent 3.4 percent of the group, whereas the marital status of 933 members has not been registered, in addition to 53,962 divorcees, which constitute 6.4 percent.

By the end of December 2015, and as per classification of Kuwait’s population in terms of age groups, marital status and nationality, the number of unmarried non-Kuwaitis was 29.57 percent representing 955,421 of the total population of 3,363,639.

On the other hand, the number of married non-Kuwaitis is 1,474,205 (43.8 percent), whereas non-Kuwaiti divorcees are 24,332 (0.7 percent), non-Kuwaiti widows 9,929 (0.3 percent), and those with unknown marital status among the same category are 27,791.

As per information, the number of bachelors in Kuwait stood at 830,287 by December 2015, whereas the number of married people was 1,931,660 as opposed to 78,294 divorcees, 39,031 widows, and the unknown marital status of citizens and non-citizens was 28,724.

According to Dr Muhammad Al-Muhaini, social science lecturer and member of Kuwait Association of Social Workers, the high rate of bachelors among Kuwaitis is a clear indication that youths are averse to married life, affi rming “Kuwait in the past did not experience the widespread phenomenon of bachelorhood”.

Dr Al-Muhaini indicated that, the main and probable reason behind the spread of bachelorhood in this country among the citizens is the increase of the cost of marriage, but this can only be applied on some of the youths. He added the statistics would not have included the age group of 15 years to 19 years, given that the common marriage age in the country is 22 years and above, and the number of married citizens is 457,455.

This explains the closeness in number between Kuwaiti bachelors and married ones stands at about 165,046, and men are married to more than one woman. As regard to divorce cases reached 53,962, Dr Al-Muhaini sees that divorce has become easy among Kuwaitis. This warrants awareness campaign to curb the increasing rates of divorce in the Kuwaiti society.

By Najeh Bilal Al-Seyassah Staff

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