The Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has denied a recent media report claiming that 39 percent of married women in the country cheat on their spouses.

Its deputy minister Noriah Kasnon said a study by the National Population and Family Development Board found that adultery was not the main reason for marital break-ups or divorces in this country.

NONE "In fact, the study has found that cheating on spouses is not a serious problem among married couples in this country," Noriah ( right ) said when winding up the debate on the Supply Bill 2013 in the Dewan Negara today.

According to the study, she added, 41.8 percent of divorce cases in the country were caused by differences, adultery (six percent), rejecting polygamy (six percent) and irresponsible spouse (11.4 percent).

The report, which was published by a Chinese newspaper, placed Malaysian women

in third place on the issue of cheating on spouses after Ghana (62 percent) and Thailand (59 percent).

Noriah said a study carried out by the Malaysia Islamic Development Department on 3,312 couples in 2005 found less that two per cent of married couples admitted to cheating on their spouses.

"From counselling cases, the main reasons for divorce were lack of attention from the spouse, irreconciliable differences, abuse of social media, friends' influence, free socialising and impotency, but not adultery," she added.

- Bernama