The Iona Institute has warned that Ireland is “on the fallacious course” citing concerns about record low marriage and fertility rates, while divorce is at an all-time high.
Using figures from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office (CSO), the institute identified that since 2004 each marriage and fertility have taken an unmistakable dive.
In 2004 there have been 5.2 marriages per 1,000 adults, by 2014 the figure was 4.8, and in 2024 it had reached 3.8, the bottom on record when the Covid years are discounted.
The story was almost the identical with the Irish fertility rate. In 2004 the fertility rate was 1.98 children per woman. The figure rose briefly to the hallowed 2.1 figure (alternative level) in 2009, before a steep decline, reaching 1.5 children per woman in 2024.
The figures are all of the more startling provided that Ireland was long famed for its large families. In 2004, Ireland did indeed have the best fertility rate in Europe, but is now only barely above the European average of 1.38.
Irish women are increasingly delaying having children. In 2023 the common age of a primary time mother in Ireland was 33, the best in Europe. Ireland also had the best proportion of moms over 40 in Europe.
Breda O’Brien of The Iona Institute said: “The indisputable fact that our marriage rate and fertility rate at the moment are at the bottom levels ever recorded must ring alarm bells.
“Getting married and having children was very normal milestones in life that nearly everyone could possibly be expected to succeed in in the event that they wanted.
“But now it seems they’re going out of reach for a lot of, something partly connected with the rising cost of living, and in a significant way, to the dearth of job security and housing experienced by so many young people.”
O’Brien warned that in addition to financial difficulties there could possibly be increasing social pressure on people to not get married “too soon”, noting that within the Eighties people got married around a decade sooner than they do now, despite similar economic challenges.
She added, “We must make it each economically and socially possible for people to marry of their 20s in the event that they want, and positively of their early and never mid-to-late 30s.
“The more economic and social circumstances make people delay marrying and having children, the less likely they’re to ever marry and have children. This means lots of personal heartache and disappointment.
“Once the issue may need been having more children than you wanted, but now there may be a growing problem of getting fewer than you would like. This is what is known as ‘unplanned childlessness’. As a society, we seriously must debate what is occurring and what could be done to vary our course.”
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