The results of the 1996 census, published yesterday, confirm the dramatic social change that is taking place in our midst. Some of the social patterns that left this State out of kilter with trends in Britain and continental Europe are rapidly changing. In common with the rest of Europe, we are getting older and more urban. The average age has increased by some three years to over 33 years. More than 60 per cent of us live in urban areas. The traditional Ireland of large families is also less apparent. The average family size has shrunk to 1.8 people. More of us are living together outside marriage and more of us are divorced, separated or deserted. There are some 31,000 family units made up of `cohabiting' couples, most of them over 30 years. There are some 17,000 deserted people. And, there has been a spectacular increase in the number of broken marriages in the past decade - up 135 per cent to 87,800. All of this presents huge challenges for policy makers. Much of our legislation and, perhaps a great deal of our political philosophy, is still rooted in traditional notions about the family unit. The census underlines the social revolution that is taking place in every corner of this State. The task of legislators is to ensure that our family law and, indeed, our social services, keep pace with and fully reflect these changes. Indeed it may be that the census underplays the level of social change. Remarkably, the 1996 census was the first to explicitly seek information on cohabiting couples.
The census found that the total population of the State is now 3.62 million, an increase of some 100,000 in the past five years. Critically, the age profile of our population underlines that this State is, indeed, poised to secure the so called "demographic dividend" : this will see a much greater percentage of the population in work at precisely the same time that the number of "dependent" people in the economy begins to fall away. The good news is that this should provide the best possible framework for building on our strong levels of economic growth. There are, nonetheless, major challenges to address in providing a better social and transport infrastructure for our citizens. The pressure to provide homes at an affordable price is, perhaps, the most critical of these. The census points to a three-fold increase in the number of households which - when combined with the population trends - is feeding the pent-up demand for new housing. Indeed, the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has estimated that a record 31,000 new dwellings will be required from now until 2001. These pressures raise important issues for government especially about the density of suburban housing estates. At present, this State enjoys very low densities compared to the rest of Europe, with an average of just eight to ten houses per acre. It may be that a fundamental change in land-use planning policies will be required to provide good accommodation for our people into the next century.