A report released by the Ministry of the Interior yesterday suggested that an average of 172 couples per day got divorced last year, almost twice the corresponding figure of 10 years ago.
The report said that on average 91 couples divorced every day 10 years ago, while the number rocketed to 172 last year with a total of 62,650 couples untying the knot.
Last year, 12.5 couples out of every thousand got divorced, the report said, but the number was little different from the year before.
The total number of divorced couples last year was only 15 couples more than the year before.
However, in 2003, divorce rates were the highest ever with 64,995 married couples breaking up although officials did not say why.
A total of 34.04 percent of divorcing couples were married less than five years when they got divorced, the report said.
Of the 34.04 percent, 8.1 percent of the couples ended their marriages after being hitched for one to two years followed by 7.7 percent who were married up to four years.
Compared to 10 years ago, the number of divorced couples has risen by 88.36 percent with the most increase -- 9,795 couples -- in the category of those married under five years.
However the divorce rate of those married 25 to 29 years has almost tripled in the past 10 years, the report said, and the rate for those married more than 30 years was 2.7 times higher than 10 years ago.
Officials yesterday said that the report indicated that the divorce rate has grown rapidly in the past 10 years especially for couples married for over 20 years.
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