The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-11-26
SLIGHT ADVANCE
Statistics Show an Increase of
Marriages in ireland
T.. f 1925 Per Cent Above the
Average OF Past Ten Years,

The marriage rate in Ireland, says
the Dublin independents, shows an adj
vance. slight, no doubt, being only 800
as compared with 1902, but still an i'll
crease, and, if an increase III the num-
Der Of marriages in an index to the
prosperity of Il nation, then it is Il
most gratifying feature. And this in
crease is 1.25 per cent. above the aver
age rate for the previous ten years.
The marriages in 1908, the Regis
trarGeneml's return tells us, num-
bered 222,992, the births 101,S31, and
the deaths 1855
The birth rate is OIL above the pre-
ceding year-another hopeful feature
while, satisfactory again, the death
rate is O.G below the average of the
ten years ending 1902.
Emigration accounts for $3.50, max
ing decrease in the population of 49,
31G, but there is no record of ilnmigra-
| ton.
| The figures for emigration for the
past ten years are of interest. The
enumerators tell us that in 1893 4S,174
people left our shore, and in each sue
ceeding years the figures were-35, S95,
4s,703, 3s,995, 1886, 1924, 1922,
45,2SS, 39,613, and 40,190 in 1902;
while last year the figure was 39,7S9.
In the middle of the year the esti-
mated population was 4,413,G5s.
OF the marriages, 1GO95 wer Catho-
! lie, $50 were civil contracts in the
registrars offices, and the balance be-
/ longed to all Protestant denomina-
/ lions. The Catholic marriage rate
was higher than the average for ten
years. The marriage of bachelors
with spinsters constitute $50 per cent.
Of the total, those of widowers and
spinsters 60 per cent, of bachelors
and widows 2.6 per cent, and widows
and widowers 1.G per cent Thus S.5
per cent of the men married were wild
overs, and IL per cent of the women
were widows; and in II instances in
every 100 hundred marriages one OF
both of the contracting parties had
been in the married state before.
or 22,992 men married during the
year, 1862, or 1.57 per cent, We're min
Ors, and Of the women married 40,
or ESQ per cent, We're under
married under age in 1903 OIL
age. The highest proportion
husbands was in the province
Of Lcnster, and of wives in the prov
ince Of Ulster. Tho percentage Of per
sons married in Ireland who wer,
under age is very far below the cor
responding rates in England and Scot
land.
The signatures of the contractn.
persons, as seen in the marriage regis
tcrs or certificates, afford Il rough ties
Of the progress of elementary educ;
ton. In the year 1908 2O,45O, or SS
per cent, of the husbands, and 20, SS9
or 900 per cent, of the wives, wrot
, their names, and the remainder signe
, by marks. These figures show
marked improvement compared wit
, the corresponding results for the frs
l Of the ten preceding years.
In the births for 1903 the boys &c
ahead of the girls by 52,173, as agains
!. 49,G5S. and Of the deaths the female
Y outnumbcred the males by 39,O5O, a
n against 3S,30S.
The death rates for the four pro,
I inccs show that for Connaught to h
c no, for Munster, 1G.1 for Ulster 49,
S and for Leinster 1914 per 1000. ,Thos
J. in which the rate was highest al
Down County Borough, 252; Belfa
> County Borough, 20.3; Armagh Count
l. 1877; Waterford County and Count
: Borough, 1911, and Tipperary S. Il
1871.
During the year there We're in II
u land 10 deaths from smallpox; chicke
!" poN, 13; measles, 3GS; scarlet fevc
21O; typhus fever, Il; influenza, 1855
whooping cough, 1902; diphtheria, 81
u enteric fever. $50; tuberculosis, 1918
{ cancer and malignant diseases, 3,04
= The excessive mortality from tube
= culosis in Ireland forms a special fe
ture in the report upon the vital st
tictics for the year 1908, the amou
= being 1880, and the investigation
. the causes of the mortality, and Il
~ measures adopted for checking Il
- ravages of the disease, are worthy
the careful consideration of every I
. sponsible member of the communit