Rwanda’s courts handled 6,799 divorce-related cases during the 2025/26 judicial year, nearly three times the number recorded in the previous year, the Judiciary said Friday.
Chief Justice Domitilla Mukantaganzwa said many marital disputes reach court after efforts by families and close friends to help couples resolve their differences have failed.
She made the remarks on Sept. 11 at a news conference in Kigali, where the Judiciary presented its performance for the 2025/26 judicial year.
The 6,799 cases compared with 2,674 in the previous judicial year, making divorce-related matters the most common category of civil cases handled by the courts.
“When the problem goes beyond the family and becomes public, the marriage has broken down and the parties end up taking each other to court,” Mukantaganzwa said.
She cautioned that the figure does not represent the same number of couples seeking divorce. One dispute can generate more than one court case through appeals or separate proceedings involving jointly owned property.
Primary courts received 5,980 divorce cases in 2026, according to the Judiciary.
Separate data from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda show that 4,479 divorces were registered through the civil registration system in 2025. Of these, 2,629 had been granted by courts and subsequently registered.
Couples who had been married for five to 14 years accounted for the largest share of registered divorces in 2025, NISR said.
Mukantaganzwa said families should make greater efforts to resolve marital disputes before they reach court, while acknowledging that divorce can sometimes be necessary.
“There are times when divorce is a solution, rather than people killing each other or living with pain,” she said, adding that prolonged conflict can also affect children and other members of a household.
She said separation does not always mean the end of a relationship, noting that some divorced couples have reconciled years later.
Rwanda’s 2024 law governing persons and family assigns Family Councils a role in protecting family interests and helping resolve disputes. However, regulations setting out their composition and operations have not yet been issued.
