Rabat – The number of divorce cases is increasing faster than that of marriages, as divorce applications between 2017 and 2021 were on the rise compared to marriage applications, indicate new statistics on marriage and divorce in Morocco compiled by the country’s High Commission for Planning (HCP).
According to similar statistics from the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSPJ), for every 100 marriage requests between 2017 and 2021, fifty divorce cases were registered. The Council highlighted that divorce cases filed in the courts of first instance, compared to marriage applications, is constantly increasing.
Divorce rate went from 45.01% in 2017 to 48.83% in 2018, then 50.34% in 2019 to reach 55.17% in 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. The year 2021 marked a slight drop in this rate, which fell to 51.18%.
In numbers, divorce cases registered in Moroccan courts were 107,136 in 2017, followed by an increase of 7.75% the next year with 115,436 cases. The year 2019 registered 129,417 cases which dropped to 105,471 in 2020.
By contrast, figures related to marriage also experienced significant fluctuations during the same period, with requests for marriage reaching 1,179,232 between 2017 and 2021. The year 2020 recorded a drop in requests due to the pandemic. The number rose again in 2021, amounting to 256,547 requests.
The Superior Council of the Judiciary revealed other important figures concerning the marriage of minors, for which the courts recorded 128,391 requests during the years 2017 to 2019, an annual average of 25,678. This number dropped to 18,504 in 2020, then rose to 25,182 cases in 2021.
However, Moroccan courts limited the granting of marriage permits for minors, which reduced the number of applications. Of the 128,391 applications registered between 2017 and 2021, 11,812 were approved and 69,331 rejected.
“The Council wanted to collect data and statistics related to the activity of the family justice services of the courts of first instance and the follow-up of their evolution since the year 2017, until the end of 2021,” explained the President of the Council, M’hammed Abdenabaoui.
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