THE FAMILY
250,000 adults have experienced divorce or separation. Up sixfold since 1986
21.6 percent of children are being raised in lone parent families
6.4 percent of children are being raised by cohabiting couples
This accounts for 28 percent of all children or a total of 456,661
Number of children raised in lone parent families high by Western standards. (OECD average is 14.9 percent)
There are 143,600 cohabiting couples in Ireland
Our rate of cohabitation is higher than in the US
The number of people who are married is up because the size of the population has increased substantially
But the percentage of married adults has fallen to 49.6 percent. This is lower than the equivalent figure in the US
The percentage of married people over 18 in 1986 was 61 percent
David Quinn writes about the growing incidence of marital breakdown in his Irish Independent column. To read the column, click here [1].
RELIGION
84 percent of the population is Catholic adding up to 3.681 million people
This rises to 89 percent among Irish nationals
The Church of Ireland is the next biggest religion with 129,039 members
51 percent of non-Irish in Ireland are Catholics
269,881 people, or 5.6 percent, claim no religion
But only 3,905 said they are atheists (Note: there was no box marked ‘atheist’ in the Census questionnaire)
Non-Irish are three times as likely as Irish to say they have no religion (15 percent v 4.4 percent)
23 percent of non-Irish belong to another Christian church
A further 7 percent of non-Irish belong to a non-Christian religion
The Census report can be found here [2]. Several more volumes are to be published between now and the end of the year.