Egypt Records Decline in Marriages & Uptick in Divorces in 2024

Egypt’s annual marriage and divorce bulletin for 2024 revealed a 2.5 percent drop in registered marriages and a 3.1 percent rise in divorces across the country, the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) reported. In total, 936,739 marriage contracts were recorded in 2024, down from 961,220 in 2023. Meanwhile, divorce cases rose to 273,892, up from 265,606 the previous year. The data show contrasting trends between urban and rural areas. Urban marriages increased by 1.7 percent to reach 395,215 contracts (42.2 percent of the total), while rural marriages fell by 5.4 percent to 541,524 contracts (57.8 percent of all marriages). On the divorce front, the number of urban divorces rose by 5.1 percent in 2024, reaching 158,201 cases, while rural divorces edged up to 115,691. CAPMAS also documented 259,697 notarised divorce certificates — 1.9 percent more than in 2023. In terms of age demographics, the largest share of grooms fell in the 25 to 30 age bracket (41 percent), with an average age of 30.6 years. Among brides, 37.3 percent were aged 20 to 25, with an average age of 25.2 years. By governorate, Aswan registered the highest crude marriage rate (14 per 1,000 people), while Giza recorded the lowest (5.9 per 1,000). The crude divorce rate rose to 2.6 per 1,000. Within that, Port Said posted the highest divorce rate at 5.1 per 1,000, and Minya recorded the lowest at 1.2 per 1,000. CAPMAS also noted that men aged 35 to 40 and women aged 25 to 30 comprised the largest share of divorce cases, at 18.2 percent and 17.6 percent respectively. Final court rulings for divorce rose sharply in 2024, reaching 14,195 cases — 95.7 percent of which took place in urban areas.