National Records of Scotland

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Weekly and Monthly Data on Births and Deaths Registered in Scotland

Weekly and Monthly Data on Births and Deaths Registered in Scotland

This section presents summary weekly and monthly data on births and deaths. All the figures from the start of 2019 are provisional, and may be revised slightly in future.

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Weekly Data on Births and Deaths Registered in Scotland
The weekly data gives the total numbers of births and deaths registered in each week, from the start of 2004 up to and including the last week of the most recent month.

Monthly Data on Births and Deaths Registered in Scotland
The monthly data presents the number of births and deaths registered in Scotland, and each NHS Board area and Council area, for every month from the start of 1990 (1996 for council areas) up to and including the most recent completed month.

Commentary

  • There were 4,517 births registered in January 2020, 5.3% less than the average of the previous five Januarys.
  • There were 5,725 deaths registered in January 2020, a decrease of 4.8% compared to the average of the previous five Januarys.

The number of births and deaths can fluctuate from week to week, or month to month, and has a seasonal pattern so care should be taken when making comparisons based on one or two data points. 

Background

Until June 2015 the weekly birth and death figures and the monthly death figures were released each quarter but are now released on a monthly basis. National Records of Scotland (NRS) collects the underlying data on a daily basis, as and when each event is registered. The statistics for the latest month and weeks are all new; some of the figures for earlier months and weeks may have been revised slightly. 

In December 2015 monthly birth figures were added to this section.

In April 2018 an additional table was added to show monthly deaths broken down by certain causes of death.

Information about (e.g.) the sources, methods, definitions and reliability of these statistics is available from the NRS website's pages of general background information on Vital Events statistics, background information on points which are specific to statistics on births, and background information on points which are specific to statistics about deaths.

These figures are directly comparable with those for other parts of the United Kingdom: there are no significant differences across the UK in how Vital Events data are collected and processed.

Some of the figures given here are provisional because there may be some slight revisions to the overall totals when the final statistics for the calendar year as a whole are published in the following summer.

Enquiries and Suggestions

Please contact our Statistical Customer Services if you need any further information.
E-mail: statisticscustomerservices@nrscotland.gov.uk

If you have comments or suggestions that would help us improve our outputs or our standards of service contact:

Alan Ferrier, Senior Statistician, National Records of Scotland,
Room 1/2/3, Ladywell House, Ladywell Road, Edinburgh. EH12 7TF.
Telephone: (0131) 314 4530
E-mail:  alan.ferrier@nrscotland.gov.uk

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