Around 274,000 divorce cases were recorded in Egypt in 2024, marking a 3.1 per cent rise compared to 2023, according to government data. The figures place Egyptian society before a major challenge reflecting a growing breakdown of families in the most populous country in the Arab world.

Egyptians have long viewed divorce as a social stigma, but this perception—once dominant decades ago—has shifted in recent years for several reasons that reflect deeper social and economic changes.

From 149,400 divorce cases in 2010, the number rose over the following ten years to 222,039 cases recorded in 2020. It then increased to 254,777 in 2021 and 269,834 in 2022, before declining slightly to 265,000 cases in 2023, only for the divorce rate to climb again in 2024.

The structure of the Egyptian family is likely to come under increasing strain as divorce continues at a rate of one case every 117 seconds, against the backdrop of deteriorating living conditions and mounting economic pressures in a debt-ridden country grappling with a steep fall in its local currency under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Official figures

While divorce cases reached 273,892 last year, marriage contracts fell to 936,739 in 2024, down from 961,220 in 2023—a decrease of 2.5 per cent—according to data from the state-run Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS)

The official figures reveal telling patterns, showing a clear disparity between urban and rural areas. Urban residents recorded 158,000 divorce cases—a 5.1 per cent increase—compared to 116,000 cases in rural areas, which saw only a slight rise of 0.5 per cent from 2023.

The groups most affected by divorce in Egypt are men and women with an intermediate level of education, accounting for 35.2 per cent of divorced men and 33.1 per cent of divorced women. In terms of age, the highest divorce rate among men is recorded in the 35–40 age group, while among women the highest rate is found in the 25–30 age group, according to official data.

This disparity reflects differences in lifestyle, education, marital expectations and........

© Middle East Monitor