Over 1,000 Irish Same-Sex Couples Got Married In 2016

The Central Statistics Office has released its report on Marriages and Civil Partnerships 2016. 

The report presented figures from the first full year since the historic marriage equality vote in 2015.  

It found that a total of 1,056 same-sex couples tied the knot here in 2016. This was broken down into 606 male couples and 450 female couples. 

80.5% of same-sex couples opted for a civil marriage ceremony while 9.2% chose a Humanist ceremony. 6.9% couples had a Spiritualist Union of Ireland ceremony. 

The average age of males entering into same-sex unions was 40.5 years while for females it was 41.0 years. 

Overall, same-sex couples accounted for 5% of marriages in Ireland in 2016. 

In terms of opposite-sex couples, the average age of grooms was at its highest to date at 35.7 years while the average age of a bride was 33.8 years. 

The number of opposite sex couples opting against Roman Catholic ceremonies is increasing. In total, 1,437 brides and grooms chose a Humanist ceremony while Spiritualist Union of Ireland ceremonies accounted for 965 couples. 

The Roman Catholic ceremony was still the most popular choice among opposite sex couples with 12,140 couples opting for this celebration.

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