And the pace of three major trends is increasing: Secular marriages up, Christian marriages down, and Spiritualist marriages up. This is yet more evidence that Ireland is no longer a Christian country.
These trends are not immediately visible, as the CSO publishes limited marriage statistics. But Atheist Ireland has obtained the full breakdown of this year’s figures (which refer to marriages from last year).
And the CSO have said they will publish a report about these marriage trends, and will include more detailed figures in future years.
What do the full figures show?
Four in ten Irish marriages are now secular. This is twice as many as twenty years ago. Within this, Civil Registry marriages are now the most popular. In the past two years alone, they are up from a quarter of all marriages to a third. By contrast, Humanist marriages have slightly dropped.
Just over a third of Irish marriages are now Christian. This is down from a massive eighty percent twenty years ago. Within this, in the past two years alone, Catholic marriages have dropped from most popular at forty percent, to second place with less than a third.
Almost a quarter of Irish marriages are now some variation of Spiritualist, Pagan, or Celtic. This is up from zero twenty years ago, and up from twenty percent two years ago. If this trend continues, it could overtake Christian marriages, and be the second most popular type behind Secular.
Why have these trends gone unnoticed?
Why has this massive culture shift gone unnoticed? One reason is that the CSO currently presents only the figures for Civil Registry, Catholic, Humanist (which is secular), Spiritualist Union of Ireland, Church of Ireland, and in some cases Presbyterian.
It then aggregates the other twenty percent of marriages together under ‘Other Religious’. But most of these are variations of Spiritualist, Pagan, or Celtic. If you combine these with the Spiritualist Union of Ireland figure, almost a quarter of all marriages fall into this broad category.
CSO response to Atheist Ireland
Atheist Ireland asked the CSO about the way the figures are presented, and if they would present future figures in a way that these trends would be obvious. The CSO replied:
We welcome this response, and we look forward to these publications.
Full breakdown of marriage figures
Atheist Ireland has obtained the full breakdown of last year’s marriage ceremonies from the CSO, and ordered them in what seem to be logical categories. You can read them below.
These trends are not immediately visible, as the CSO publishes limited marriage statistics. But Atheist Ireland has obtained the full breakdown of this year’s figures (which refer to marriages from last year).
And the CSO have said they will publish a report about these marriage trends, and will include more detailed figures in future years.
What do the full figures show?
Four in ten Irish marriages are now secular. This is twice as many as twenty years ago. Within this, Civil Registry marriages are now the most popular. In the past two years alone, they are up from a quarter of all marriages to a third. By contrast, Humanist marriages have slightly dropped.
Just over a third of Irish marriages are now Christian. This is down from a massive eighty percent twenty years ago. Within this, in the past two years alone, Catholic marriages have dropped from most popular at forty percent, to second place with less than a third.
Almost a quarter of Irish marriages are now some variation of Spiritualist, Pagan, or Celtic. This is up from zero twenty years ago, and up from twenty percent two years ago. If this trend continues, it could overtake Christian marriages, and be the second most popular type behind Secular.
Why have these trends gone unnoticed?
Why has this massive culture shift gone unnoticed? One reason is that the CSO currently presents only the figures for Civil Registry, Catholic, Humanist (which is secular), Spiritualist Union of Ireland, Church of Ireland, and in some cases Presbyterian.
It then aggregates the other twenty percent of marriages together under ‘Other Religious’. But most of these are variations of Spiritualist, Pagan, or Celtic. If you combine these with the Spiritualist Union of Ireland figure, almost a quarter of all marriages fall into this broad category.
CSO response to Atheist Ireland
Atheist Ireland asked the CSO about the way the figures are presented, and if they would present future figures in a way that these trends would be obvious. The CSO replied:
To preserve the long-term utility of statistical time series, the classification groupings have remained constant over time in order to allow users to compare changes. However, the CSO notes the importance of ensuring detailed statistics for our users.
We are currently planning to produce, in the second half of 2025, a Frontier Statistics release examining the changing forms of ceremonies over the last several years. This will provide a more detailed breakdown of what types of ceremonies couples are opting for when they decide to become married.
The CSO produces statistics based on information from the General Register Office which provides information on ceremony rite. We do not carry out any additional grouping or classification. However, our upcoming publication will allow users to group ceremonies in whichever order they wish. It is also proposed to include this additional table in subsequent yearly marriage publications and provide some commentary around it.
We welcome this response, and we look forward to these publications.
Full breakdown of marriage figures
Atheist Ireland has obtained the full breakdown of last year’s marriage ceremonies from the CSO, and ordered them in what seem to be logical categories. You can read them below.
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