Births, Deaths and Other Vital Events - First Quarter 2013

Provisional figures for births, deaths, marriages and civil partnerships registered during the first quarter of 2013 are published today by the National Records of Scotland.

The statistics show that 15,090 deaths were registered in Scotland between 1 January and 31 March 2013 – 870 (6.1 per cent) more than in the same period of 2012. This follows five successive decreases in the first quarter total, from 15,820 in 2007 to 14,220 in 2012. 

The provisional figures also show that:

• 13,863 births were registered in the first quarter of the year – 909 (6.2 per cent) fewer than in the same period of 2012.
• The number of marriages increased by 0.1 per cent to 3,258, which was 3 more than during the first quarter of 2012.
• There were 63 civil partnerships (29 male and 34 female), 20 fewer than during the first quarter of 2012. 
• Deaths from cancer fell by 1.2 per cent to 3,853, deaths from coronary heart disease fell by 0.8 per cent to 1,934, and there were 1,250 deaths from stroke (a rise of 7.6 per cent).

Tim Ellis, the Chief Executive of the National Records of Scotland, said:

“Today’s statistics show a fall in the number of births registered, with fewer than in the first quarter of each of the years from 2007 to 2011, inclusive. The number of births had been tending to decline gradually since 2008.

“The number of deaths rose to the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2007. The number of deaths had been generally falling until 2011. Each of the last four quarters have had more deaths than in the same quarter of the previous year."

The full publication Births, Deaths and other vital events - first quarter 2013, is available on NRS website.