Census Northern Ireland: The number of divorced people has multiplied 30 times over the past fifty years

The census says that from 1971 to 2021 the percentage of adults who are ‘Separated, widowed or divorced’ has risen from 9% in 1971 to 16% in 2021.

However the number of divorced adults has risen from 3,000 in 1971 to over 90,000 in the same period. The percentage of adults who are married has dropped from 61% to 46% in the same period.

In the Labour Market around 70% of adults who were in employment were working full-time, classed as 31 hours or more per week, with the remaining 30% working part-time, that is, 30 hours or less per week. A further 10% work 15 hours or less per week, 87,000 adults.

These two sectors experienced contrasting changes over the decade between Census 2011 and Census 2021. The number of workers in the ‘Human Health & Social Work activities’ sector grew from 14.2% of the workforce to 16.5% while workers in the ‘Wholesale & retail trade', including repair of motor vehicles, fell from 17.5% to 16.1%.

"These changes mirror the increasing healthcare needs of the population and the challenges the retail sector faces," the survey concluded.

Derry City & Strabane had the highest percentage of adults who were unemployed (3.7%), while Fermanagh & Omagh, Mid Ulster and Lisburn & Castlereagh had the lowest (at 2.2% each);

The two largest industry sectors were ‘Human Health & Social work activities’, employing 140,000 people and ‘Wholesale & retail trade, including repair of motor vehicles’ with 137,000 people.

The two most common occupations for women were ‘Professional occupations’, with 97,000 workers and ‘Caring, leisure and other service occupations’ with 75,000. However the two largest groups for men were ‘Skilled trades’ with 99,000 workers and ‘Professional occupations’ with 75,000.

there were 26,000 people, 1.4% of our population, living in 1,420 communal establishments at the time of the 2021 Census. around half of them lived in a Care Home, 13,000 people, while a further 7,000 lived in an educational communal establishment, for example a student hall of residence.