CAIRO: A couple files for divorce every six minutes in Egypt, with a third of marriages breaking up in the first year, the press reported on Tuesday quoting the state-run statistics bureau.

Courts across Egypt rule on 240 divorces each day, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS)

In most cases men take the initiative to file for divorce since under Muslim sharia law they are allowed to seek unrestricted legal separation from their spouses while women must face long court procedures.

In line with sharia, men do not need to go to court to file for divorce and can take up to four wives.

Egypt, home to 76 million people, now has 2.5 million divorced women.