KUWAIT CITY, June 2: The amendment of some provisions of the Amiri Decree on the Kuwaiti Nationality Law – which aims to strengthen national identity, maintain public order and abolish Article Eight stipulating that the marriage of a foreign woman to a Kuwaiti man does not entail her becoming a Kuwaiti – has led to a 75 percent increase in the number of Kuwaiti women marrying Kuwaiti men and a lower rate of foreign marriages. The newspaper obtained a copy of the recent statistics issued by the Department of Legal Documentation at the Ministry of Justice, indicating that the number of marriages between Kuwaiti men and Kuwaiti women reached 2,916 from the beginning of January until the end of April 2025. The statistics showed that 332 Kuwaiti men got married to non-Kuwaiti women, 133 Kuwaiti women got married to non-Kuwaitis, 44 Kuwaiti men got married to Bedouns and 10 Kuwaiti women got married to Bedouns.

In addition, the number of divorces between Kuwaiti husbands and Kuwaiti wives reached 1,419; while the number of divorces between Kuwaiti husbands and non-Kuwaiti wives reached 332, and 141 Kuwaiti women were divorced from non-Kuwaiti men. Moreover, a statistical analysis of the achievements of the Sharia Documentation Department in April 2025 revealed that the number of documented marriages, by nationality, reached 1,149.

The rate of marriages where both spouses are Kuwaiti nationals was 75 percent, while the percentage of marriages where both spouses are non-Kuwaiti nationals was 13.4 percent. The rate of marriages where the husband is Kuwaiti and the wife is non-Kuwaiti was 8.4 percent, while the percentage of marriages where the husband is non-Kuwaiti and the wife is Kuwaiti was 3.2 percent of the total marriages. The total number of documented authentication cases by nationality of husband and wife reached 117.

The rate of documented authentication cases in which both spouses are Kuwaiti citizens was 4.3 percent, while the percentage of documented authentication cases in which both spouses are non-Kuwaiti citizens was 29.9 percent. The rate of documented authentication cases in which the husband is Kuwaiti and the wife is non-Kuwaiti was 60.7 percent, while the percentage of documented authentication cases in which the husband is non-Kuwaiti and the wife is Kuwaiti was 5.1 percent.

The total number of documented divorces by nationality of the husband and wife was 754. The percentage of documented divorces in which both spouses are Kuwaiti citizens was 59.1 percent, while the percentage of divorces in which both spouses is non-Kuwaiti citizens was 18.4 percent. The rate of divorces in which the husband is Kuwaiti and the wife is non-Kuwaiti was 15.9 percent, while the percentage of divorces in which the husband is non-Kuwaiti and the wife is Kuwaiti was 6.5 percent.

By Jaber Al-Hamoud
Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff