There was a sharp decrease in the number of couples getting married last year, according to data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Friday.

The number of marriages celebrated in 2020 – 9,523 – is a reduction of 53.1 per cent when compared with 2019, when 20,313 marriages took place. The CSO said this reflected the impact of Covid-19 restrictions on wedding plans.

The figures also show that Catholic marriages were less popular than civil marriages for the first time last year. Some 42.1 per cent of marriages were in civil ceremonies in 2020, compared to 34.6 per cent in Catholic services.

Almost half of couples last year (49.8 per cent) opted for a non-religious marriage ceremony last year – be it civil or humanist in nature, while just over half opted for a religious service.

Atheist Ireland said the CSO figures “show yet again that Ireland is no longer a Catholic country”.