Births, Deaths and Other Vital Events - Quarterly Figures

Second Quarter 2018

This release presents provisional figures for vital events which were registered in Scotland in the period from 1 April 2018 to 30 June 2018, inclusive. The tables and chart (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 (for example cross-classified by sex, cause and NHS Board area) for the latest quarter. 

Main Points

• The statistics show 12,973 births, 13,621 deaths and 7,820 marriages were registered between April and June.
• At 12,973, the number of births registered was 18 (0.1 per cent) more than in the same period of 2017 and the second lowest quarter two total since 2003 (quarter 2 of 2017 was the lowest). The total number of quarter two births fell to a low of  around 12,600 in 2002. It then rose to around 14,900 in 2008 before falling more recently.
• At 13,621, the number of deaths registered was 168 (1.2 per cent) lower than in the same period of 2017. Following a long-term downward trend in deaths, reaching a low of 12,770 in quarter two of 2009, the number of deaths in the second quarter has begun to rise although there has been little change in the last five years.
• Compared with the second quarter of 2017:
• The number of cancer deaths rose by 2.0 per cent to 3,920;
• Deaths from respiratory diseases fell by 11.1 per cent (by 183 to 1,464);
• The number of deaths from coronary heart disease fell by 1.0 per cent to 1,581.
• The number of deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease fell by 8.6 per cent to 1,380;
• There were 860 deaths from cerebrovascular disease (a decrease of 5.8 per cent); 
• The provisional figures also show there were 7,820 marriages in total, 197 fewer than during the second quarter of 2017 (a fall of 2.5 per cent).
• There were 253 same-sex marriages, a fall of 13 (5.4 per cent) compared with the same period of 2017. Eighteen (7.1 per cent) of the same sex marriages registered in the first quarter were changes from civil partnerships.
• There were 15 civil partnerships (7 male and 8 female), five more than during the second quarter of 2017. 

Statistical Service in Scotland

Tables and Chart

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

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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

Note

This is a quarterly publication. The dates of future publications will be announced in our Future Publications page.

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