The number of Catholic marriages in Ireland has halved in just 10 years according to a new study, marking the latest milestone in the decline of Catholicism on the one-time island of saints and scholars. Catholic marriages fell 51 per cent from over 13,000 to 6,425 between 2014 and 2024, according to the study from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), the chief statistical agency of the Irish state. Civil ceremonies now outnumber Catholic weddings, with a sharp rise in secular humanist and ‘New Age’ weddings, the study also highlights. Despite the fact that the Irish population grew substantially in the 10-year period, marriages declined by 7.7 per cent overall, with Ireland now having one of the lowest marriage rates in Europe at 3.8 per 1,000 people.