Births, Deaths and Other Vital Events - Quarterly Figures

Fourth Quarter 2010

This release presents provisional figures for vital events which were registered in Scotland in the period from 1 October 2010 to 31 December 2010, inclusive. The tables (available below) provide statistics of births, stillbirths, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths, including:

• quarterly figures for Scotland for each of the past ten years;
• the totals for each Local Authority and NHS Board area for the latest quarter; and
• more detailed analyses of the numbers of deaths (e.g. cross-classified by sex, cause and NHS Board area) for the latest quarter.

Commentary

More detailed commentary on the final Vital Events statistics for calendar years as a whole (including some comparisons of the figures for different years, for parts of Scotland and for some other countries) can be found in the following areas of our website:

• the relevant chapters of Scotland's Population - the Registrar General's Annual Review of Demographic Trends

Background

This is a quarterly publication. The 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 quarter are all new; some of the figures for earlier quarters may have been revised slightly.

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

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. At that stage, the numbers of deaths for a few causes will change significantly, because NRS will by then have received information that will enable a more precise classification of some of the deaths which are currently counted under (e.g.) 'events of undetermined intent' or 'ill-defined or unknown causes of mortality'.

Statistics of deaths (for the calendar year as a whole) are used in some Scottish Government targets, such as reductions in the numbers of suicides and in the age-standardised death rates, of people under 75, from ischaemic (coronary) heart disease, cerebrovascular disease (stroke) and cancer: Scottish Government reports on progress towards these targets. Quarterly statistics like these provide an opportunity to identify any changes in trend earlier than if only annual figures were produced. In addition, once they have been published, figures on more specific topics for the period up to the latest published quarter can be produced (e.g.) if required in order to answer Parliamentary Questions. Annual numbers of births and deaths are used to update estimates of life expectancy and the size of the population, for which there are also government targets. More generally, Vital Events statistical data are used for research into, and to develop and monitor policies on, a wide range of topics, including: fertility; stillbirths and infant deaths; alcohol- and drug- related deaths; suicides; deaths from healthcare associated infections; the effectiveness of cancer screening programmes; cancer survival rates; hospital standardised mortality rates; and the arrangements for certifying deaths.

Tables

The tables below have been made available as Excel spreadsheets and can be viewed in Comma Separated Value (CSV) or Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF).

When opening the spreadsheet files your browser, depending on how it's been configured, will prompt to either open the file or save it to disk.
Maximum file size is 460 Kb.

PDF files require Acrobat Reader. Download Acrobat Reader free

Note

The dates of future publications will be announced on our Future Publications page.

Statistical Service in Scotland

Enquiries and Suggestions

For our contact details please see the publication home page.