DUBLIN (OSV News) — A decline in religion will likely deepen Ireland’s demographic crisis, according to a new study by a pro-family and pro-life Irish institute.
Fewer religious people mean marriage and fertility rates will likely fall further because people practicing religion tend to have more children.
The study “Religion, Marriage and Fertility: Shall the Religious Inherit Ireland?” by the Iona Institute, published Feb. 5, has raised concerns over Ireland’s “looming demographic crisis.”
Speaking ahead of the publication Vincenzo Bassi, president of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe, said loneliness is the “major sickness” afflicting society today and, while family networks are an antidote to loneliness, they need to be supported and nurtured.
The Italian lawyer and father of three gave a Jan. 18 talk in Dublin on “Demography and the Family” hosted by the Irish advocacy group Family Solidarity, which is one of 33 member organizations of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in 20 countries across Europe.
FAFCE’s two-fold mission is to advocate on behalf of the family at the European Union and international level; and to encourage the work of family associations.
On the demographic decline in Europe, Bassi said everybody is aware of the problem of declining and aging populations as well as the lack of intergenerational balance and equity.
“There is no sustainable development without intergenerational balance,” he stressed.
The Iona Institute’s newly released paper said that the proportion of the population over 65 in Ireland is projected to increase considerably. However, the report also raises the possibility that in the coming decades, the religious share of the population might actually begin to increase simply by virtue of the fact that religious people have larger families.
The report cites figures from Ireland’s Central Statistics Office issued in 2023 which show that those aged 65-plus represent 15 percent of the overall population. However, by 2057, according to the statistics office, this age group is expected to constitute between 27-32 percent of the total, depending on immigration levels. “This will present us with a very challenging situation which immigration alone cannot solve,” the Iona Institute report notes.
Speaking to OSV News after his talk, Bassi suggested that society today needs to recover the sense of solidarity and quality of relations that existed in our grandparents’ time, and this needs to be done by “building up family networks.”
One of the challenges for family associations highlighted by Bassi is the lack of recognition for the role of the family “in the common good.” FAFCE’s vision puts the family, the “basic cell of society,” based on the marriage of a husband and wife, at the center of communities.
According to FAFCE, families are “a crucial engine for economic growth and guarantee a sustainable and lasting future for the community itself. Strong families are the prerequisite for a healthy and prosperous society.” Their contribution to a sustainable society needs financial recognition.
Ireland has experienced a significant decline in fertility rates in recent decades. Currently, the replacement level, which is the number of children each woman must have to sustain a population at its present level, is 2.1. But the current fertility rate stands at 1.5 and the Central Statistics Office says it could fall to 1.3 by 2037.
Speaking about the report, Iona Institute CEO David Quinn said, “The looming demographic crisis has not received anything like enough attention in Ireland. In particular we have overlooked the link between the decline in religious practice and the decline in our marriage and fertility rates.”
He added, “In recent debates about religion, there has been too much focus on its negative aspects rather than its positive aspects which include better physical and mental health, lower rates of alcohol and drug abuse, more giving of time and money to charity as well as higher rates of marriage, lower rates of divorce and higher fertility levels.”
He expressed the hope that the report would raise awareness of the very important contribution religious practice makes to societal and personal well-being. “The decline in religious practice is by no means the boon some people appear to think,” he said.
Bassi, for his part, added that FAFCE is seeking to promote the “beauty of the family, its prosperity, and the dignity of its members” by lobbying for family-friendly policies which will shape the future of Europe.
Expressing concern over “competence creep” from Europe and other transnational bodies, Bassi warned, “It is not up to the European Union to be involved in issues like abortion and other pro-life issues. That belongs to the competence of the national state.”
Bassi highlighted how FAFCE has had difficulty competing with other groups promoting alternative social visions because these NGOs are well funded. “Without funding it is impossible to promote our vision, and we are losing for that reason,” he explained.
The federation of family groups “needs to stay together and have a common strategy,” he stressed.
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