Worldwide divorce boom expected after pandemic lockdowns

The coronavirus pandemic is putting an enormous strain on relationships around the world.

Wage cuts, job losses and 24/7 living together at home have strained marriages.

Citizens Advice is a UK charity which gives free, confidential advice to help people with money, legal, marriage and other problems.

It is reporting that the numbers of people viewing its divorce advice webpages on the first September weekend this year were 25% up on the same date in 2019.

The coronavirus pandemic and families enduring months of lockdown have laid bare and worsened pre-existing issues.

September was an especially busy month for family lawyers, with many couples having tried one last desperate summer holiday together before calling it quits.

Tom MacInnes, chief analyst for Citizens Advice, told the BBC: “We know that this pandemic has put an enormous strain on people financially, but our data shows that the strain is also being felt in people’s relationships.”

The charity has experienced record-breaking demand every day, but people have been seeking different advice on weekdays compared to weekends.

Even when the nationwide lockdown was eased in July, people continued to search for financial and work-related issues from Monday to Friday.

This changed to enquiries about noisy neighbours, making wills, and divorce advice at weekends.

Citizens Advice data showed searches for advice about getting a divorce always peak on Sundays.

Maybe instead of being a time for rest and recreation shared together, the pandemic has mutated the weekend into a high-risk domestic obstacle course.

Media sources report that the weekend is when most accusations of domestic violence are reported to UK police.

Elsewhere, the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic is hitting Indonesia particularly hard and has sent the country into the worst economic slump since 1999.

Households are struggling to survive and feed their children.

In such situations most of the daily burden and strain of keeping a family together falls on the wives and mothers.

The Jakarta Post reported in August that Indonesia is seeing a significant increase in divorce rates during the pandemic.

The instigators are mainly wives claiming they are no longer getting financial support from their husbands.