Ireland’s marriage rate fell slightly in the first quarter of 2018 from 2.9 per 1,000 (3,459) to 2.8 per 1,000 (3,351), according to the latest vital statistics from the CSO.  The number of same-sex marriages fell sharply. There were 106 such marriages in the first three months of 2018 compared to 130 during the same period in 2017 and 186 in the same period in 2016, which was the first full year after the passage of same-sex marriage in 2015.

Population growth also continued to slow in the first quarter of this year due to a significant fall in the birth rate. There were 15,659 births in the first three months of 2018, a 5 per cent decrease on the same period last year. Ireland’s birth rate currently stands at 13.1 per 1,000 population, a decrease of 0.8 from the first quarter of 2017. There were 5,919 births registered outside of marriage, accounting for 37.8 per cent of all births in the quarter. The lowest rate of such births was in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown at 23.4 per cent.