Almost a quarter of the divorces registered in the kingdom last year were between couples who had spent more than 15 years married together, according to data provided by a government agency.
The statistics, provided by the Information and eGovernment Authority’s Bahrain Open Data Portal (data.gov.bh), also revealed that there were more than 2,000 cases of divorce, a slight decrease compared to the previous year, and almost 5,700 marriages, a 12.5pc increase.
The trend is global. When the honeymoon is over, newly-wedded couples need to work at maintaining satisfaction and happiness in their relationship, a recent study shows. University researchers found that while couples experience a honeymoon phase in their marriages, their bliss usually decreases after 10 to 15 years.
The study, ‘Variation in Trajectories of Women’s Marital Quality’, was published in Social Science Research Journal. Spencer James, an assistant professor in US Brigham Young University’s Department of Family Life who conducted the research, told reporters: “Conflict increases over the first decade of marriage, perhaps due to unresolved, and potentially unresolvable, issues.”
These marital conflicts might include ongoing problems with in-laws, money management, household chores, household responsibilities, child rearing or intimacy.
According to the local data, most of the weddings last year were between couples aged 18 to 35, while most divorces happened between the ages of 26 and 45, most prominently among those who spent more than a decade together.
Last year, there was a total of 2,066 case of divorce, very slightly down compared to 2,073 in 2024.
In terms of divorce cases by duration of marriage, 365 couples (17.7pc of cases) last year separated after less than a year together, compared to 360 in 2024 (0.3pc increase).
Additionally, 317 couples got divorced after ‘one to two years’ (15.3pc) in 2025, compared to 341 in 2024 (1.1pc decrease), while 224 couples (10.8pc) who spent three to five years together divorced last year, just one less than before.
Around 365 couples (17.7pc) who spent five to 10 years married got divorced in the same period, slightly down from 2024 which saw 375 (0.4pc decrease).
Meanwhile, 295 couples (14.3pc) who spent 10 to 15 years married got divorced, slightly down from 2024, recorded at 299 (0.1pc decrease).
Finally, the category with the most divorcees was couple who spent more than 15 years married, where 500 couples (24.2pc) separated in 2025. In comparison, 473 couples got divorced in this category in 2024 (1.4pc increase).
When it comes to age groups, the majority of wives were between the ages of 26 and 35 with 786 (38pc of divorced women last year), a trend that remained consistent with 2024, which saw 864 (41.7pc).
This was followed by those between the ages of 36 to 45 (557 women, 27pc of cases), 18 to 25 (418, about 20.2pc), and then finally those above 45 with 305 women (14.8pc).
As for husbands, the majority of divorcees, just like wives, were between the ages of 26 and 35 with 761 men (36.8pc of divorced men last year), which also was the case in 2024 with 800 men (38.6pc).
There were also 640 men (31pc) between the ages of 36 and 45, 518 men (25.1pc) above the age of 45, and 147 men (7.1pc) between 18 to 25-years-old.
The vast majority of divorces last year happened between Bahraini couples with 1,472 (71.2pc of cases), followed by Bahraini husband’s with non-Bahraini wives with 350 (16.9pc) and Bahraini wives to non-Bahraini husbands with 119 (5.8pc).
Finally, 125 cases were registered among expat residents in the kingdom, constituting about 5.8pc of divorces in Bahrain last year.
Meanwhile, Bahrain last year registered a total of 5690 marriages last year, up from 2024, which saw 5057 marriages.
The vast majority of marriages occurred between Bahrainis with 4,428 (77.8pc), followed by 562 cases (9.9pc) of Bahraini husbands wedding non-Bahraini wives.
A total of 396 Bahraini women (7pc) married non-Bahraini men, and the remaining 304 marriages (5.3pc) occurred between expats.
More than half of the women who got married were between the ages of 18 to 25, with 3,214 (56.5pc), followed by those aged 26 to 35 with 1,933 (34pc) and then those between 36 to 45-years-old with 398 (7pc). Only 145 women (2.5pc) above the age of 45 got married last year.
As for men, more than half were between the ages of 26 to 35 with 3,073 (54pc), followed by those aged 18 to 25 with 1,727 (30.4pc).
Meanwhile 596 men (10.5pc) were between 36 to 45-year-old and only 294 (5.1pc) were more than 45-years of age at the time of marriage.
In total, 11,380 men and woman got married last year, 5,006 (44pc) of whom were between 26 to 35-years-old, while 4,941 (43.4pc) were between 18 and 25, 994 (8.7pc) were between 36 to 45-years-old and 439 (3.9pc) were older than 45-years of age.
nader@gdnmedia.bh
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