KUALA LUMPUR: Almost 80,000 divorce cases were filed at courts across the country throughout the Covid-19 pandemic period between March 2020 and last month.
From the total divorce cases, 66,440 involved Muslim couples and 10,346 involved non-Muslims.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the data on the divorce cases were based on the statistics provided by the courts and Syariah Judiciary Department.
He said this in his written reply in Parliament to Datuk Dr Hasan Bahrom (PH-Tampin) who asked the prime minister to state the statistics of divorce cases involving people in the rural areas during the pandemic.
"The courts do not have specific statistics on divorce cases among people in the rural areas during the pandemic.
"However, the number of divorce cases filed among non-Muslim couples nationwide from March in 2020 until August 2021 was 10,346 cases.
"Similarly, the Syariah Judiciary Department does not have the distribution of divorce cases filed among Muslim couples residing in the urban and rural areas.
"However, the number of cases registered for divorce involving Muslim couples during the same period was 66,440," he said.
Based on these statistics, Selangor has the highest number of couples registering for divorce, in which 12,479 cases involved Muslims and 3,169 involved non-Muslims.
Although the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry did not carry out any survey to identify reasons behind divorce cases, Ismail Sabri said the National Population and Family Development Board carried out a survey titled "Burden and Challenges Faced by Parents Facing New Wave of Covid-19 Pandemic".
A total of 1,148 respondents comprising parents age 18 and above took part in the survey, which was conducted virtually, from March 5 until 14 this year.
"According to the survey, 80 per cent of the respondents started to feel the pinch, both economically and on their mental health, during the third wave of the pandemic and following the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0).
"On the family's economic aspect, 28 per cent of the respondents stated that the financial situation worsened compared to the previous wave of the pandemic and implementation of the MCO.
"The survey also found that 84.1 per cent of the respondents suffer from emotional pressure or stress during the third wave of the pandemic and implementation of MCO2.0," he said.
The survey, he said, also found that 63 per cent of the respondents stated that they had experienced depression, from which 20.4 per cent had anger management issues.