Divorce rate in Bangladesh doubled last year: Survey

By SM Najmus Sakib

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AA) - The divorce rate in Bangladesh has doubled in one year, a new survey found on Tuesday.

The rate of divorce rose to 1.4 per thousand people in 2022, compared to 0.7 per thousand in 2021, according to the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics.

In its report on the Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics 2022, the national statistics agency said the divorce rate was higher in rural areas, which saw an increase of 0.6 per thousand compared to 0.5 per thousand in urban areas.

The findings are based on a survey of more than 1.3 million people and 300,000 households across the country in 2022.

Experts say educated and employed women were no longer willing to accept gender-based violence at home, which is one of the major causes contributing to the rise of divorce rates.

"We deal on a daily basis with so many abuse causes, and most issues are divorce or related to domestic violence," Fauzia Moslem, president of Bangladesh Mahila Parishad, a women's rights organization, told Anadolu.

"We provide counseling to both husbands and wives so that a family is not broken," she added.

Moslem said the country needs government-funded and supervised counseling centers to help women get divorced, provide support to become financially independent, allowing them to raise their children.

"So many women in the region face domestic violence, discrimination, and torture. But some of them say no due to empowerment and education," she added.

According to the Dhaka city corporations' data, during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, domestic violence and divorce rates rose by 29.78%, while divorce applications increased by 34% in the last seven years.​​​​​​​