Data on applications for Muslim divorces and reasons for the application for divorce
Community
13 January 2026
Response to parliamentary question on annual applications received by the Syariah Court for Muslim divorces and reasons for the application for divorce
741. Mr Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik: To ask the Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs for each year from 2021 to 2025, (a) how many applications were received by the Syariah Court for divorces; (b) of these, how many applicants eventually divorced due to (i) infidelity, (ii) financial problems and (iii) desertion.
Response:
Under the Administration of Muslim Law Act, applicants must first register for and attend the Marriage Counselling Programme (MCP) before they may proceed to apply for divorce at the Syariah Court.
Based on the latest available data from 2021 and 2024, the Syariah Court received an annual average of 2,986 MCP registrations. Of these, an average of 1,991 proceeded to file for divorce, and ultimately, an average of 1,478 cases resulted in divorce.
Data on the main reasons for the application for divorce is as published by the Department of Statistics (link here).
