Life in 1916 Ireland: Stories from statistics

• The number of marriages per 1,000 of the population (the marriage rate) was 4.8 in both 1916 and 2014.                                                                                                                                                              
• However there are differences at county level in the marriage rate when comparing today with 1916.                                                                   
• In 1916 there was higher than average marriage rate in Dublin City at 7.1 and in Dublin County and Cork at 5.7. In contrast, the marriage rate was below 4 in Sligo, Kildare, Laois, Mayo, Galway and Donegal.                            
• By 2014 the marriage rate was still higher than the state average at 5.2 in Dublin City while the rate in Dublin County had dropped to 1.9, the lowest rate in the country. The reason for the low marriage rate in Dublin County is probably that people from this area are more likely to have their wedding ceremony in another part of the country.

Photo: Wedding group commissioned by Mr. Bardy, Lifford, Co. Donegal 1901

• The vast majority (92%) of the 15,207 marriages in 1916 were Catholic ceremonies while Church of Ireland and Presbyterian ceremonies accounted for 7% of all ceremonies.
• In 1916 one quarter of all marriages were Church of Ireland or Presbyterian in Monaghan. Other counties with a high proportion of Church of Ireland or Presbyterian marriages were Donegal (18%), county Dublin (16%), Cavan (15%) and Wicklow (15%).
• Less than 1% of marriages in 1916 were Civil ceremonies while 0.5% were other ceremonies, (which covered Methodists, Society of Friends, Jews and other religions).
• Between 1916 and today there has been a large decrease in the proportion of Catholic marriage ceremonies, with just under 60% of the 22,045 marriages in 2014 taking place in a Catholic Church.
• There has also been a corresponding growth of Civil and other ceremonies. In 2014 Civil ceremonies accounted for 28% of all marriages while 10% were "Other" ceremonies, (which covers other religions, Humanist and Spiritualist ceremonies).
•  Just 2% of marriages in 2014 were Church of Ireland or Presbyterian.
• Dublin City had the lowest proportion of Catholic marriages in 2014 at just under a quarter (24%) and about half of all marriages were Catholic in counties Wicklow, Kildare, Cavan and Meath.
• 75% of marriages in Dublin City in 2014 were Civil and other ceremonies.  The detailed breakdown of marriages by form of ceremony on the CSO website shows that about a fifth of marriages in Wicklow and Meath were Humanist or Spiritualist in 2014.