Divorce on the rise in Mauritius

Divorce on the rise in Mauritius

Further to the two articles namely regarding the International Day of Women and the Do’s and Don’ts before marriage, both highly visited articles, it was found appropriate and logical to continue the analysis on the societal trends regarding men and women relationships. Realising that reading such articles can be time consuming, we will therefore be submitting the articles in shorter versions by focusing on specific issues. In this context, in the first instance, we will be taking a broad look at the evolution divorce rate in our country.

Divorce is a sensitive and debatable issue.   According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO)* Mauritius, the number of divorces  in Mauritius has been generally speaking on the rise while the number of civil marriages has increased before stabilizing over the years  as indicated as hereunder

1975 - 110 divorces -  6,888 civil marriages

1995 – 801 divorces – 10,430 civil marriages

2005  -  1133 divorces – 11,076 civil marriages

2008  - 1569 divorces  - 11,012 civil marriages

2009  -  2154 divorces - 10,446 civil marriages

The upshot in the number of divorces  and the drop in the number of civil marriages from 2008 to 2009 are causes for concern save for the attorneys who can thrive on it. The divorce rate which is the is the number of persons divorced in a year per 1,000 mid-year population has risen from 0.3 in 1974 to 3.4 in 2009 which is more than a ten fold increase.

The marriage rate which is the number of persons married in a year per 1,000 mid-year population and which was at 15.7 in 1974 had peaked in 1978 at 23 before slowly decreasing to 16.7 in 2009.

We will be analyzing the possible reasons for these changes in our next article.

*Digest of Demographic Statistics 2009 by CSO