51% of Pakistanis favour engagement before marriage

People are almost equally in favour of marriage without engagement as with one, says new survey.

ISLAMABAD: Almost 51 per cent of all Pakistanis are in favour of engagement before marriage where as 45 per cent support direct nikkah (signing the contract of marriage), showed the result of a survey conducted by Gilani Research Foundation/Gallup Pakistan.

The survey asked a nationally representative sample of 2,753 men and women from across the country the following question:

“In some families there is a trend of getting engaged before marriage while in others nikkah takes place directly. In your opinion should engagement take place first or nikkah directly?”

Fifty one percent preferred engagement where as 45 per cent chose direct nikkah. The other 4 per cent gave no response.

The report says that relatively more people living in urban areas (59 per cent) favoured engagement before marriage as compared to those living in rural areas.

The study was released by Gilani foundation and carried out by Gallup Pakistan.

The complete survey report can be found here.