Divorce and remarriage are both on the increase
The latest figures relating to Census 2011 point out that, despite the booming divorce rate, remarriage is also thriving here, with almost 43,000 saying they had tied the knot again last year. This is up from 6,641 in 1996 and 31,795 in 2011.
Overall, men are much more likely to remarry, with 39% of divorced men remarried compared with only 28% of divorced women.
Divorced men are also more likely to be in childless homes, with 78% of separated and divorced men living in households with no children, compared to 44.5% of women.
Despite the large increase in the divorce rate, the marriage rate is holding up, with the numbers increasing from 1,565,016 five years ago to 1,708,604 in 2011 — almost a 10% increase.
For women, 32 is the age at which they’re more likely to be married than single, but for men it’s 34 as they’re waiting longer to wed.
Given that the number of people marrying is on the increase, it’s no surprise that the number of singletons is on the decrease.
The share of the population over the age of 15 years old who are single has fallen from 43.1% in 2006 to 41.7%.
The highest proportions of singles were in the cities with Galway (62.7%), Dublin (60.7%) and Cork (57.8%) having the highest rates. The counties with the lowest proportion of singletons were Roscommon (50.3%), Leitrim (50.5%) and Mayo (51.0%).
Single men also outnumber single women at every age up until 80, according to the CSO. Married people outnumber singletons by 203,000. There are now 1.5m single people and 1.7m married people, as well as another 191,000 who are widowed.
Rural families were larger on average than those in cities. The average number of children in each family was 1.5 in rural areas and 1.3 in cities. Cohabiting couples with children had an average of 1.74 children, while the figure for married couples was 2.09 children.
There were 344,944 couples without children, of which 261,652 were married and 83,292 were cohabiting.
However, the traditional image of the large Irish family has not completely disappeared. For example, there were 16,646 families with five or more children, of which 3,253 had six children or more.
The Census 2011 data shows there were 4,042 same sex couples living together in 2011, of which 2,321 (57.4%) were male and 1,721 (42.6%) were female.
Just over 83% lived in urban areas.
GALWAY CITY HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF SINGLE PEOPLE (AGED 15 AND OVER) — 62.7%
Dublin City has the second highest — 60.7%
Cork City the third highest — 57.8%
Roscommon has the lowest — 50.3%
Leitrim the second lowest — 50.5%
Mayo the third lowest — 51%
Up to the age of 80 single men outnumber single women in every age
Divorce
22.3 — percentage increase in separated and divorced people between 2006 and 2011 (166,797 to 203,964)
Divorced men more likely to be in childless households
Peak age for divorce among men and women was 48
There were 4,042 same-sex couples living together in 2011, of which 2,321 (57.4%) were male and 1,721 (42.6%) were female
Just over 83% lived in urban areas, with almost half being in Dublin City and suburbs
57% — percentage of same-sex cohabiting couples who were male
Married population rose 9.2% between 2006 and 2011, up from 1,565,016 to 1,708,604
32 — AGE AT WHICH WOMEN WERE MORE LIKELY TO BE MARRIED
34 — age at which men were more likely to be married
26,128 — difference between separated and divorced women and men
76 — age at which women were more likely to be widowed
Married women outnumber married men at each year of age, from 17 to 40, reflecting that women generally marry at younger age
There has been an almost ninefold increase in remarriage since 1996 — from 6,641 to 42,960 in 2011
39% of divorced men remarried compared to only 28% for women
The peak age for remarriage for men was 50, while for women it was 49
35 — percentage of the total population who live in cities
40 — percentage of single people who live in cities
37 — PERCENTAGE OF THE POPULATION WHO LIVE IN RURAL AREAS
32 — percentage of single people who live in rural areas
Galway County has the highest percentage of married couples — 40.3%
Roscommon has the second highest — 40.2%
Limerick City (-1.6%) and Cork City (-1.1%) were the only counties to see reductions in married numbers
9% — increase in the married population between 2006 and 2011
54 — percentage of the rural population who were married
44 — percentage of the urban population who were married
22 — percentage of married people living in cities
42 — percentage of married people living in rural areas
440,000 — number of adult children (>18) living with a parent in April 2011
180,703 — employed adult children living with a parent
98,739 — unemployed adult children living with a parent
392,000 — the number of one-person households
66 — percentage of men living alone who were single
36 — percentage of women living alone who were widowed
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