Average marriage age standing at 27 for Emirati males, 24 for females

The average age of marriage for Emirati males in Abu Dhabi stood at 27.2 years and at 24.2 years for females in 2016, according to a Statistics Centre - Abu Dhabi, SCAD, report, released recently.

A total of 5,892 marriage contracts were registered in Abu Dhabi in 2016, 70.9 percent of which are mixed marriage contracts, 2.4 percent down from 2015, added the report.

The month of March witnessed the highest percentage of completed marriage contracts, while June saw the lowest.

Though the number of marriage contracts registered in Abu Dhabi has been increasing by 5.8 percent annually since 1975, the crude marriage rate decreased from 7.6 marriages per 1000 citizens during 2016 from 7.9 marriages per 1000 citizens in 2015.

The report shows that 58.6 percent of Emiratis aged 15 years old and above are married, while 35.7 percent are not, and the rest are divorced.

A total of 1,922 divorce cases were registered in Abu Dhabi in 2016, 68.3 percent of which involve Emiratis, either males or females. Divorce among citizens reached 7.6 cases per 1,000 population, with the month of March witnessing the highest rate of divorce, and September seeing the lowest thereof.

According to the report, 28.2 percent of divorce cases in 2016 did not endure one full year in wedlock and more than 50 percent didn't complete 3 years after marriage.