Using count regression models to investigate the most important economic factors affecting divorce in Iraq

The two most popular models inwell-known count regression models are Poisson and negative binomial regression models. Poisson regression is a generalized linear model form of regression analysis used to model count data and contingency tables. Poisson regression assumes the response variable Y has a Poisson distribution, and assumes the logarithm of its expected value can be modeled by a linear combination of unknown parameters. Negative binomial regression is similar to regular multiple regression except that the dependent (Y) variables an observed count that follows the negative binomial distribution. This research studies some factors affecting divorce using Poisson and negative binomial regression models. The factors are unemployment rate, inflation and Gini coefficient. The data were taken from the website of the Statistics Center for the years 2002 to 2023.Under the Poisson regression model, each factor has been reported to have an effect on the divorce rate. The two factors of inflation and unemployment had a direct effect and income inequality factors had an inverse effect on the divorce rate. But, under the negative binomial regression model, only inflation has an effect on the number of divorces. It is worth noting that according to the AIC values, the negative binomial regression model has a better fit than the Poisson regression model because its AIC value is lower.