Ireland’s marriage rate is now only 4.3 per 1,000, according to new figures published by the CSO, a massive drop of 40pc since 1973 when the rate peaked at 7.4 per 1,000.

The figures mean that fewer couples in Ireland are getting married than in Britain and far fewer than in the US.

Ireland’s marriage rate is now just below the EU average. It is also lower than the UK rate of 4.5 per 1,000, which is the lowest on record in that country and is far lower than the US rate of 6.8 per 1,000.

The sharp decline in the marriage rate coincides with a huge rise in cohabitation, the sixfold increase in divorce and separation since 1986 and the fact that over a third of children are now born outside of marriage.

The figures also showed that nearly one third (29pc) of all marriages in 2011 were civil marriages, while in the capital, nearly 43pc of grooms and brides had civil marriages. Of the 5,768 civil marriages in 2011, there were 3,855 (67pc) where both the bride and groom were single.

In 2011, civil marriages were the most common form of ceremony for grooms aged 45 and over (69pc), and for brides aged 40 and over (67pc).

The average age of grooms in 2011 was 34.6 years, 0.5 years more than the average age in 2010.

In the past fifty years, the average age of grooms has decreased from 30.6 years in 1961 to a low of 26.2 years in 1977 and has increased to a high of 34.6 years in 2011.

A similar trend is evident for brides with the average age decreasing from 26.9 in 1961 to 24.0 in 1977 and has increased to a high of 32.5 in 2011

In 2011, 88pc (17,434) of marriages were the first marriage for both the groom and bride.

There were 2,272 marriages involving at least one divorced person in 2011, including 447 marriages where both parties were divorced. Civil ceremonies accounted for 1,855 of these marriages, 234 were Roman Catholic ceremonies, and the remaining 183 were other religious ceremonies.

Meanwhile, there were 536 civil partnership ceremonies in 2011, 335 male unions and 201 female unions. Over 70pc (377) of these same-sex couples reside in the Leinster area with 34pc living in Dublin City and a further 19pc residing in the greater Dublin area.

Excluding the Dublin area, Cork County had the highest number of civil partnerships registered in 2011 (33) and accounted for over six percent of all civil partnerships registered in that year. In contrast, North Tipperary and Monaghan had just 1 civil partnership each that were registered in 2011.

The average age of partner in civil partnership couples is 44.3, the average age of male partner being 44.7 (average age of groom in marriage is 34.6) and female partner slightly less at 43.8 (average age of bride in marriage 32.5).

Of the 1,072 individual partners, 1018 or 95pc were previously single while 48 (four percent) were divorcees and 6 were widowed.