Marriage rates falling among young adults

MOST people in Ireland still marry, but the likelihood of remaining unmarried increased among young adults between 1986 and 2006.

According to the ESRI report published yesterday, cohabitation is fast become the normal relationship mode for people in their 20s, often as a prelude to marriage in their 30s.

Aligned to later childbirth on the part of women, it has reinforced the move away from the traditional pattern of marriage and children at a younger age, a scenario now typical only of members of the Travelling community and some non-Irish nationals.