The number of people who have experienced marriage breakdown has increased fivefold over the last 20 years, new research shows. Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent, reports.
Marriage breakdown is most common in socially-deprived urban areas and among couples in their 40s and 50s. However, marriage breakdown rates decline sharply among people aged over 60.
The figures, based on the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) data, are contained in a report on changing family structures produced by the Iona Institute, a pro-marriage organisation which highlights the benefits of religious practice.
Total marriage breakdown was calculated by adding up the number of people who have divorced, separated or remarried and expressing this as a percentage of people in first marriages.
Overall, the national average for marriage breakdown in Ireland is 13 per cent. The rate is highest in Limerick city (19.7 per cent), Dublin city (18.1 per cent), Waterford city (17.1 per cent), Galway city (16.7 per cent) and Cork city (15.2 per cent).
In some deprived pockets within cities such as Dublin, Waterford and Limerick, the rates are as high as 50 or 60 per cent.
However, rates are lowest in rural areas such as Co Galway (9.6 per cent) and other counties around the country.
Prof Patricia Casey, a consultant psychiatrist and patron of the Iona Institute, said the report confirmed that marriage breakdown was becoming a serious problem in Ireland.
She said that the high rate of marriage breakdown among couples in their 40s and 50s was likely to be driven by two main factors.
"One is that they have likely been married for quite some time and therefore are likely to have encountered difficulties in their marriages. However, if this alone was the reason, then we would expect an even higher rate among those married longer," she said.
"But the rate goes down again for the over-60s. A second factor, therefore, is probably greater levels of individualism among people in their 40s and 50s - that is, they value personal freedom very highly.
"Older people tend to be much more traditional in their thinking, making them more likely to stay in marriages."
The research also shows a growth in non-marital families such as cohabiting couples and lone parents.
Cohabitation has risen sixfold over the past decade, from 31,298 people in 1996 to 189,240 in 2006, making it the fastest-growing family unit.
The report suggests that some of this increase may be due to immigration, given that some areas with the highest concentrations of foreign nationals also have some of the highest concentrations of cohabiting couples. Migrants are generally young and in age groups which are most likely to cohabit.
Other research has indicated that many cohabiting couples are delaying marriage and choosing to get married at an older age. The Iona Institute's research also shows that the number of people marrying is continuing to increase, although the proportion of married couples as a percentage of all family units is falling.
Married couples accounted for 80 per cent of family units in 1996. This has since fallen to 70 per cent.
The number of lone parents is up 80 per cent since 1986, the report adds, with 190,000 lone parents now resident in the country.