'Jordan has lowest divorce rate among Arab countries'

AMMAN — Chief Islamic Justice Abdul Kareem Khasawneh on Sunday said that the divorce rate in Jordan reached 5.5 per cent this year, which was the lowest rate among Arab countries, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

During a session attended by the President of the University of Jordan Abdul Kareem Qudah titled “Social and psychological impacts of early marriage and divorce”, which was organised by the University of Jordan’s Faculty of Nursing, Khasawneh said that “divorce was one of the biggest problems that communities encounter, given its negative impacts on families”.

He also highlighted the role of family reform offices in decreasing the divorce rate in Jordan. Khasawneh reviewed the issue of underage marriage in the Kingdom and the conditional approvals for permitting girls between the ages of 15 and 18 to marry.

A total of 77,700 marriage contracts were issued in 2017, according to the Department of Statistics. 

Sharia Court member Sami Qobbaj attributed underage marriage to culture, poverty and dropping out of school, however the rate of early marriage decreased to 4 per cent of total marriages in 2018, Qobbaj added.