Marriage rates have fallen among people in their 20s and risen among those in their 30s

Across all social classes, marriage rates have fallen among those aged in their 20s and risen among those aged over 30. This delay in entering marriage is partly due to people delaying forming any kind of partnership and partly due to the rapid increase in cohabitation among younger adults. These are some of the findings in a new study published by the ESRI and conducted by researchers from UCD, the ESRI and the University of Limerick.

A further finding of this study shows that by 2006, twice as many 25 year-olds were cohabiting as were married. Cohabitation is mostly a prelude to marriage, but an increasing number of cohabiting couples have children, suggesting cohabitation may be a preferred option among a minority.

The study, entitled Family Figures: Family dynamics and family types in Ireland, 1986-2006 provides the most detailed analysis to date of trends in the structure of Irish families. The study, funded by the Family Support Agency analysed Census data made available for the first time in cooperation with the Central Statistics Office. The report contains many new findings relating to trends in partnership and childbearing between 1986 and 2006.

The report deals with four aspects of family trends: (1) Singlehood and couple formation (2) Marital breakdown (3) Fertility (4) Lone parenthood. Results include:

On singlehood and couple formation:

Across all social classes, marriage rates have fallen among those aged in their 20s and risen among those aged over 30. This delay in entering marriage is partly due to people delaying forming any kind of partnership and partly due to the rapid increase in cohabitation among younger adults.
By 2006, twice as many 25 year-olds were cohabiting as were married. Cohabitation is mostly a prelude to marriage, but an increasing number of cohabiting couples have children, suggesting cohabitation may be a preferred option among a minority.
Nationality, ethnicity and religion are stronger influences on whether people cohabit or marry than socio-economic position, though people in the middle of the range for educational attainment are most likely to form partnerships.
The number of people in same-sex couples is still very small in absolute terms (0.15% of 15-59 year-olds), but is rising rapidly. Most are in their 30s and 40s and have high educational attainment.

On marital breakdown:

The marital breakdown rate increased rapidly in the 1990s but has levelled off in recent years and remains low by international standards. There is no evidence that the introduction of divorce in 1997 affected the trend in marital breakdown.
The cohort now in its 40s has a higher rate of marital breakdown than older cohorts. Breakdown is more common among lower socio-economic groups.
Among those whose marriage has broken down, divorce (as opposed to separation) is more common among the better off.
Married couples with one child have a 25-30% higher risk of marital breakdown than those with no children or with more than one child.

On fertility:

Most women now delay having children beyond 30 years of age, with the majority now having two or three. Over one-in-six women now have no children at age 45.
The higher a woman’s educational attainment, the longer she is likely to delay having children and the fewer children she is likely to have. Fertility rates also vary by region, nationality, ethnicity and religion.

On lone parenthood:

In 2006, 57% of lone parents had never married. The proportion of lone parents who experienced a marital breakdown was 35% and is increasing.
There is an extremely strong relationship between low educational attainment and the likelihood of becoming a never-married lone mother.
Women describing themselves as Catholic or Church of Ireland are also more likely to be never-married lone mothers.
There are over 10,000 lone fathers, almost all from broken marriages. We estimate the chances that the children of a broken marriage live with the father at one in eight.
Family Figures contains many more results relating to changes in family structures between 1986 - 2006. The authors discuss the implications of the findings in relation to a range of family policies, including the appropriate public supports available to different family structures, the rights and duties of unmarried partners and the need for a debate on Irish fertility rates.