All the single ladies: those in urban areas more likely to be unmarried

THE PERCENTAGE OF single people in Ireland fell slightly between 2006 and 2011, according to the latest census.

Overall, there are 1.5 million single people in Ireland.

There are  less single women out there than men with just 39.2 per cent of those aged over 15 describing themselves as single. Over 44 per cent of men were single as of April 2011.

There is a greater percentage of single people in urban areas (45.2 per cent) than in rural areas (35.8 per cent).

Of those in the 40 to 49 age category, who the CSO believe are less likely to get married, 23.3 per cent of men and 19.4 per cent of women were single.

Over 74,000 men and over 61,000 women in their 40s are unmarried.

The CSO said it is interesting to examine the data for this category as the majority of marriages in Ireland are between persons aged under 40 (93 per cent of first marriages). The marital status of this particular age group then is a good indicator of those who never marry in the long term.

The data for urban and rural areas differs sharply. In rural areas only 13.4 per cent of women in this age group were single compared with 23.4 per cent in urban areas, while for men the figures were 20.6 per cent and 25.2 per cent respectively.

Of those in their 30s, 44 per cent were single. However, in rural areas, just 36 per cent of those aged 30 to 39 were single.

Moving to the older category, only 8.6 per cent of women in their 50s living in rural areas were single. This increased to 14.7 for urban areas. About 16.1 per cent of men in the corresponding category are single with the divide between rural and urban areas less distinctive.

About 37 per cent of the Irish population is married.

Looking at age and sex, the most gender-balanced groups are those aged 35 to 39 and 55 to 59 where the ratio of men to women is equal.

Overall, there were 42,854 more females than males in the State, resulting in a sex ratio of 98.1 men for every 100 women. This is a reverse of the 2006 situation when there was more males. The pattern can be primarily attributed to changing patterns in migration.

However, back in the younger categories there is a noticeable shift due to higher male births. There is an average of 104.6 boys for every 100 girls in the under 19 age groups.

TheJournal.ie’s coverage of the Census of 2011>

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