Births, Deaths and other Vital Events: Preliminary figures for 2015 released

Provisional figures for births, deaths, adoptions, marriages and civil partnerships registered during 2015 are published today by the National Records of Scotland.

The statistics show that 57,573 deaths were registered in Scotland in 2015 – 3,334 (6.1 per cent) more than in 2014. This is the highest number of deaths recorded since 2003.

The provisional figures also show that:

• 55,100 births were registered in the year – 1,625 (2.9 per cent) fewer than in 2014. This is the lowest number of births recorded since 2005 and continues the general decline in number of births since 2008. 
• The number of marriages in 2015 rose by 622 compared to 2014 but levels are still historically low. Of the total of 29,691 marriages registered in 2015, 1,671 involved same sex couples and, of the same sex marriages, 935 were changes from previous civil partnerships. 
• There were 64 civil partnerships (33 male and 31 female), 372 fewer than during 2014. 
• Deaths from cancer rose by 1.3 per cent to 16,049, deaths from coronary heart disease rose by 3.4 per cent to 7,109, and there were 4,302 deaths from cerebrovascular disease (a rise of 4.3 per cent). There was a 13.8 per cent increase (to 7,629) in deaths from respiratory diseases.

The full publication 2015 Births, Deaths and Other Vital Events - Preliminary Annual Figures is available on this website.

Two Infographics are also available for this publication on this website.