Donegal couples less likely to opt for civil marriage ceremonies

People in Donegal marry slightly younger than the rest of the state, and are more likely to be married in a catholic church.
They are among the findings of an analysis on marriages in 2010 published today by the Central Statistics Office.
Most men in Ireland are 34 when they marry – women are 32. In Donegal, the average ages are slightly lower at 32.6 and 30.6 respectively.
The figures published today by the CSO show the average ages are well up on the 1970s, when the average bride was 24 and the average groom was 26.
In 2010, nearly 20-thousand-600 couples married – down a thousand on the previous year. In Donegal, the figure was 923.
Nationally, 67 percent of those marriages were Catholic, in Donegal, that figure rises to 72%. 29 percent of marriages in the state were civil, in Donegal, that figure falls to 18%. The rest of the weddings took place within other religious denominations.
Meanwhile, at Letterkenny courthouse in the same year, 61 divorces, 12 judicial seperations and 1 nullity applications were granted in the same year.