TIRANA, June 20 – Divorces hit a historic high in 2016 triggered by an increase in domestic violence cases, according to a report by state statistical institute, INSTAT.
A Men and Women report shows divorces rose by 34 percent to a historic high of 7,034 in 2016 when domestic violence cases also climbed to 3,700.
Meanwhile, marriages slightly dropped to 22,600 in 2016 following a four-year high of about 25,000 in 2015, preserving their trend for the past 25 years of Albania’s transition when the marriage culture has remained almost unchanged.
“The number of marriages in the past decade has remained unchanged at about 22,000, but divorces have doubled. Ten years ago there were about 3,000 divorces compared to a current 7,000. This has also led to a 2-fold increase in the divorce rate which has increased to 31 divorces per 100 marriages,” say INSTAT experts.
Lawyers say it is mostly women who take the initiative to file for divorce nowadays.
“The figures are alarming. Filing for divorce and protection orders with courts has seen a sharp increase. Once it was men who dominated filing for divorce, but now it is women who take the courage and address court to divorce their husbands,” says lawyer Vjollca Pustina.
According to her, economic factors dominate divorce filings, but there is also adultery, jealousy and psychological and physical violence causes.
Back in 1990, just before democratic changes swept the country following almost five decades of isolation under communism, Albania had 2,675 divorces and 28,992 marriages with a divorce rate of 9.2 percent.
Sociologists say the hike began in the early 1990s with the economic, social and cultural changes and the mass migration of Albanians as the country transitioned to a multiparty political system and market economy.
“Couples who have one of the partners abroad suffer bigger problems. A partner’s physical absence is associated with a number of difficulties for women while distance for a long time triggers the estrangement effect, often leading to divorce,” says Alketa Molla, who has defended her PhD thesis on divorce during Albania’s transition.
“The society’s opening up has also led to greater women emancipation and awareness for their rights and freedom and the establishment of a divorce culture. Differently from other societies where the divorce culture is seen as equality among marriage partners, in Albania it is seen as women reaction filing for divorce when their rights are violated,” she adds.
Experts say gambling is becoming a rising factor leading to divorce.
“He was really obssessed with sports betting and I thought he was out of his mind. He excused himself he could not find a job and spent all day gambling and watching football matches,” says a divorced 45-year-old teacher as quoted by Alketa Molla in her PhD research.
“He did this with my wage money. He used violence if I didn’t hand him my wage. He became violent with the children as well. I couldn’t go on like this and I addressed court to file for divorce. My children and I are now free,” she adds.
A rise in domestic violence cases is also believed to have led to a higher number of divorces. Police say some 2,200 protection orders were issued on violated women in 2016.
Domestic violence claimed between 20 to 30 lives a year in the past five years and affected thousands, but a network of women empowerment lobbying to provide rehabilitation services to violence perpetrators claims only up to 15 percent of women in Albania report cases to the authorities.
Despite Albania’s legal framework, the problem is with the fact that the victims don’t consider domestic violence as an offence or they are frightened of reporting the incidents because it could trigger shame on their families. Other reasons for the underreporting and failure to complain about violence, include their inability to financially support themselves and their children when they leave or divorce their partners, the women’s network says.
Albania’s population is estimated to have remained almost unchanged at 2.88 million in 2016 with the mean age at 37 years, compared to 30.6 years in 2001 and 26 years in 1990 just before the collapse of the communist regime when Albania boasted one of the world’s youngest populations.
Once the country with the highest fertility rate under communism, Albania saw its average number of children per woman drop to 1.54 in 2016, down from 3 in 1990 just before the transition to a multi-party system and a record 6 in the early 1960s.
Lower fertility rates and massive migration has contributed to the population shrink and ageing.
Albania has about 1.5 million migrants, 1 million of whom living and working in neighbouring Italy and Greece in the past 25 years.
