Ethnicity of the deceased person

Since the start of 2012, the ethnicity of the deceased person has been collected, on a voluntary basis, when a death is registered in Scotland. 

The pages in this section of the website provide links to the published tables of results and to some presentations (which provided some results along with background information about the collection of the data), describe how the information should be collected, assess the quality of the data, and supply some further background to the collection of the information.

The statistics that have been published

How the information should be collected

The quality of the data

Further background

In response to user feedback, NRS has considered the value of an analysis of deaths involving COVID-19 by ethnicity (using the information collected as part of the death registration process). The note below describes the process, and some of the limitations of the ethnicity data collected.

Deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19) in Scotland by ethnicity recorded at death registration (PDF)