Divorce is not only rampant in America. Crossroads Arabia reports that divorce is so prevalent in Saudi Arabia that divorce lawyers are turning away new clients.
Sixty-two per cent of marriages in the western region in Saudi Arabia end in divorce, with a large percentage of those being less than 25 years of age.
The number of young divorcees is increasing. Some are getting divorced after one or two years of married life. Coming across a 20-something divorcee is not strange anymore. Khaled Abu Rashid, a Saudi lawyer, said that with a huge number of divorce cases, law firms in Saudi Arabia are burdened with so much work that sometimes they have to refuse taking cases. He said that divorce among young couples was increasing and added that a lot of his clients are between 18 and 22 years of age and that many disputes revolve around child custody.
There are certainly cultural reasons for rampant divorce rate; many of the marriages are arranged. Regardless, I cannot help but wonder if the law in Saudi Arabia is as backwards as New York’s which requires parties to prove marital fault.
