Rwanda’s Civil Registration and Vital Statistics system registered 4,479 divorce cases in 2025, according to the Rwanda Vital Statistics Report 2025 released by the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (NISR). Of these, 2,629 divorces were legally granted by courts in 2025, while 1,850 were registered in 2025 after having been granted in earlier years.
The report shows that divorce remains concentrated in urban and more populated areas, with Kigali City recording the highest number of divorce cases, while the Northern Province had the lowest. In the provincial breakdown, Kigali City accounted for 1,185 cases involving wives and 1,199 involving husbands, while the Northern Province registered 598 cases involving wives and 592 involving husbands.
A notable finding in the report is that 41.2% of all registered divorces happened before couples reached their 10th wedding anniversary. The biggest share came from marriages lasting 5 to 9 years, which recorded 1,076 cases, followed by marriages of 0 to 4 years with 768 cases. Marriages of 10 to 14 years accounted for 928 cases, while unions lasting 45 to 49 years had the fewest divorces, at just 20 cases.
The report also shows that 87.9% of divorced couples continued living in the same province after separation, while 12.1% moved to different provinces. At the district level, Gasabo, Kicukiro, and Nyarugenge recorded the highest numbers, underscoring the heavier concentration of divorce cases in urban districts.
By age, divorces were most common among adults in their 30s and 40s. The report says the average age at divorce was 43.3 years for men and 39.8 years for women.
The divorce figures were released alongside broader civil registration statistics showing that legal marriages also declined slightly in 2025, from 52,878 in 2024 to 50,256 in 2025. NISR says the data help inform policy discussions on family stability, civil registration, and social support systems.
