Marital status refers to current legal marital or partnership status, otherwise known as civil status.
While there are similarities between marital status and relationship status, in this statistical standard, marital status is treated as a concept that is distinct from relationship status, because some relationship statuses such as “engaged” or “in a relationship” are not legally recognised.
The standard for marital status can be used in conjunction with separate household relationship standards for greater exploration of relationships, including cohabitation, within a household.
Marital status is the civil status of each individual in relation to the marriage laws or customs of the country, i.e., never married, married, widowed, and not remarried, divorced, and not remarried, married but legally separated, de facto union.
This harmonised standard presents guidance on how marital status can be defined, measured and presented in a more consistent manner.
Data on marital status is important for understanding trends in the social, economic, and general well-being of families, helping in forecasting future needs of programmes with benefits associated with marital status and in measuring the effect of policies and programmes.
Many data collections require information on marital status of individuals. When collecting data on this topic, either of the following questions are recommended:
The standard questions on this topic are designed to collect information, for use in the majority of surveys or data collections. However, it is not intended to replace questions already in use for specialist surveys where more detailed analysis is required.
Some statistical production may require more detailed information on marital status. In such circumstances, any additional response categories should be based on the standard reference classification. Using the standard reference classification will enable more comparsion between surveys, as the definitions and conceptual basis will be consistent.
The following list of response options represents the basic level of detail that the CSO recommends should be gathered in data collection.
| Standard Response Options and Codes for Marital Status | |
| 10 | Single (Never married or never in a civil partnership) |
| 20 | Married |
| 30 | In a registered civil partnership |
| 40 | Separated |
| 50 | Divorced |
| 60 | Widowed |
The standard response options and standard reference classification provided are based on recommended categories derived by the Census Advisory Group for the 2024 Census Pilot. Where data collections require more granular breakdowns, please refer to the standard reference classification, with associated coding structure.
| Description of Standard Response Options of Marital Status | |
| Single (Never married or never in a civil partnership) | An individual who has never been married or never been in a civil partnership (including same sex civil partnership and civil partnerships from other jurisdictions legally recognised in Ireland). |
| Married | An individual or two persons of any gender who have registered a marriage within the State. |
| Civil Partnership | An individual who is either of two persons party to a civil partnership registration recognised by the State that has not been dissolved or the subject of a decree of nullity. |
| Judicially Separated (formal) | An individual who has been granted a decree of judicial separation under the Family Law Act 1995 or is so recognised under Irish Law. |
| Separated (informal) | An individual who has separated by agreement without having obtained a decree of judicial separation under the Family Law Act 1995. |
| Divorced | An individual who was previously married and a decree of divorce has been granted by the relevant court under Family Law (Divorce) Act 1996 or is so recognised under Irish law. |
| Legally Dissolved Civil Partnership | An individual who was in a registered civil partnership that has been dissolved (other than through the registration of the marriage of a couple previously in a registered civil partnership). |
| Widowed | An individual that was married and has been predeceased by their spouse and who has not subsequently remarried. |
| Surviving Civil partner | An individual that was civil partnered and has been predeceased by their spouse and who has not subsequently entered another civil partnership or married. |
In developing this data standard, the CSO explored user requirements for additional breakdowns which were used to develop the following Standard Reference Classification for Marital Status:
| Standard Reference Classification for Marital Status | |||||
| Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | Single (Never married or never in a civil partnership) | 100 | Single (Never married or never in a civil partnership) | 1000 | Single (Never married or never in a civil partnership) |
| 20 | Married | ||||
| 201 | Married (first marriage) | 2010 | Married (first marriage) | ||
| 202 | Remarried | 2021 | Remarried - following widowhood | ||
| 2022 | Remarried - following divorce/annulment | ||||
| 30 | In a registered civil partnership | ||||
| 301 | In a registered same sex civil partnership | 3010 | In a registered same sex civil partnership | ||
| 302 | In a registered heterosexual civil partnership/union | 3020 | In a registered heterosexual civil partnership/union | ||
| 40 | Separated | ||||
| 401 | Separated from marriage | 4011 | Separated from marriage - formal | ||
| 4012 | Separated from marriage - informal | ||||
| 402 | Informally separated from civil partnership | 4020 | Informally separated from civil partnership | ||
| 50 | Divorced | ||||
| 501 | Divorced | 5010 | Divorced | ||
| 502 | Civil partnership legally dissolved | 5020 | Civil partnership legally dissolved | ||
| 60 | Widowed | ||||
| 601 | Widowed | 6010 | Widowed | ||
| 602 | Surviving civil partner | 6020 | Surviving civil partner | ||
| 98 | Unknown | ||||
| 981 | Don't know | 9810 | Don't know | ||
| 982 | Refused to answer | 9820 | Refused to answer | ||
| 983 | Not stated | 9830 | Not stated | ||
| 99 | Not applicable | 999 | Not applicable | 9999 | Not applicable |
Taking an existing classification with customised codes and descriptors, we can migrate to the harmonised standard with common codes and descriptors through a mapping exercise based on the standard reference classification.
| Concept name | Marital Status |
| Variable name | MARSTAT_CSO |
| Format type | Character code |
| Guideline Version | 1.0 |
| Guideline Release date | 28 June 2024 |
| Valid to | 28 June 2027 |
| Owner | Central Statistics Office (CSO) Classification Standardisation Team |
| Audience | Policy makers, system developers and producers or users of statistics |
| Contact | classifications@cso.ie |
This data standard will be regularly reviewed and updated to ensure it remains current and aligned with any changes in regulations or best practices. The validation period for this standard is three years.
We are always interested in hearing from users so that we can develop our work.