Saudi Arabia has fixed an upper limit to dowries that grooms have to give to brides as a way to address the rising number of spinsters in the kingdom.
Under the Islamic law, the groom pays a dowry to his bride, and in Saudi Arabia, the amount some times even exceeds $1 million, as per reports.
Saudi Arabia has now set a maximum limit of 50,000 Saudi riyal as dowry for a virgin bride, and 30,000 Saudi riyal for women who have been married before, after a recent study pointed out that the number of spinsters in the kingdom has risen to four million in recent years, mainly due to high dowry demands.
A study conducted by the Islamic University said that the number of spinsters, or women who remain unmarried, has increased from 1.5 million in 2010 to 4 million in 2015, Emirates 24/7 News had reported.
"The main cause is the high dowry girls' parents ask from the grooms," a Saudi sociologist told the news portal.
The new dowry limit will now be approved by a royal decree in Saudi Arabia.
In a letter, Prince Khalid Al Faisal, emir of Mecca, has asked all the tribal leaders to meet and agree on the new dowries, local Saudi media reported.
"Further to what has been recently observed about the high dowries that have contributed to the rise in the number of spinsters, a meeting of city governors with tribal elders is required to prepare a document identifying marriage dowries, that should be ratified by provincial courts, and submitted to the emir of the region," the prince said in the letter, according to Arab News.
Recently, two brides in the kingdom were rewarded for demanding the lowest dowry from their grooms, Arab News had reported.
