05/01/2026
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05/01/2026
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Kuwait Court
KUWAIT CITY, Jan 5: A comprehensive statistical study of cases heard in the Family Courts of the Court of First Instance from 2017 to 2024 revealed a significant increase in the number of family cases brought before the judiciary. This rise was accompanied by high completion rates, reflecting the efficiency of judicial performance and the absence of case backlogs, despite the exceptional challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The report showed that the Family Courts received a total of 278,116 cases during the study period.
A total of 359,845 cases were heard, and 309,072 cases were adjudicated, resulting in an overall completion rate of 85.9 percent. The report explained that 2024 recorded the highest number of received cases, accounting for 13.9 percent of the total, followed by 2019 at 13.7 percent.
In contrast, 2020 recorded the lowest number of received cases at 8.8 percent, due to disruptions in judicial work during the COVID-19 pandemic. With regard to pending cases, 2019 ranked highest at 13.6 percent, while 2020 ranked lowest at 9.2 percent for the same reasons. Family Court cases made up the largest share of incoming cases at 45.2 percent, followed by family petition orders at 23.8 percent, with Jaafari family cases and grievances accounting for similar proportions. Some types of cases recorded very low numbers, most notably endowment petition orders, with only six cases over the eight years, along with urgent cases for non-Muslims and grievances from non-Muslims. Also, the total number of resolved cases reached 309,072. The years 2019 and 2024 recorded the highest number of resolved cases, each accounting for 13.7 percent, while 2020 had the lowest at just 8.5 percent.
Family court cases made up the largest share of resolved cases at 50.3 percent, followed by Family Court orders at 19.4 percent. The report confirmed that the case resolution rate compared to pending cases reached 85.9 percent during the study period The highest case resolution rate was recorded in 2024 at 89.2 percent, while the lowest was in 2020 at 79.7 percent. The resolution rate compared to new cases filed in the same year stood at 82.4 percent, reflecting the smooth functioning of the judicial system and the absence of backlogs, as resolution rates exceeded 70 percent in all years.
At the court level, the Capital Governorate Court recorded the highest completion rate at 90 percent in 2024, followed by the Farwaniya Governorate Court at 90.5 percent, and the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Governorate Court at 90.4 percent. Conversely, most courts saw their lowest completion rates in 2020, due to the impact of the pandemic and the suspension of court sessions.
The report highlighted a clear disparity in annual change rates. In 2021, cases filed, pending, and adjudicated saw the highest increase compared to 2020, while 2020 experienced the largest decline compared to 2019, due to the exceptional global circumstances at the time. Based on statistical averages, the report projected that from 2025 to 2029, the annual average of cases received would be around 39,000, pending cases would reach an average of 47,855 per year, and the number of cases resolved would average 41,988 annually
By Jaber Al-Hamoud Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff
