Most statistics on births, marriages, civil partnerships and deaths are based on the date an event was registered, rather than the date it took place.
For example, a baby born on 28 December 2024 but registered on 10 January 2025 will appear in the 2025 figures.
The law requires vital events to be registered within certain time limits:
· births and stillbirths should be registered within 21 days
· marriages and civil partnerships should be registered within 3 days
· deaths should be registered within 8 days
How long registrations usually take
Most births and deaths are registered well within the legal time limits.
For events registered in 2025:
· The median number of days between a birth and its registration was 18 days and 95% of births were registered in 41 days.
· The median number of days between a deaths and its registration was 5 days and 95% of deaths were registered in 23 days.
· Most marriages were registered within the legal term, with the median number of days between a marriage and its registration equal to 3 days. Around 95% of marriages were registered within 26 days.
Since deaths are generally registered soon after they happen, statistics based on the date of registration are usually very similar to figures based on the date the death occurred. This is also broadly true for births, though registration takes longer.
Changes over time
The time taken to register a birth stayed fairly stable from 1974 until 2020, with most births consistently registered within 11 days. Almost all (99%) of births were registered within 34 days. In 2020, due to registration office closures for the pandemic, 50% of births were registered within 21 days, while 99% of births were registered within 156 days. From 2021 onwards most births were registered within 16-18 days with 99% of births registered within at most 80 days.
Registration of deaths has become slightly slower since the mid‑1990s, but the vast majority are still registered within days rather than weeks.
Registration of marriages has become slower since 2000 but the vast majority are still registered within a week from the event.
Overall, registration delays are small and have little impact on published annual or quarterly Vital Events statistics.
From 13 May 2015, some deaths in Scotland are checked by the Death Certification Review Service (DCRS). These checks apply to a random sample of deaths that have not been referred to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS).
When a death is reviewed, registration cannot be completed until the review is finished. This is because the review may lead to a change in the recorded cause of death. As a result, some deaths take slightly longer to register.
Overall, the impact of these reviews have been small:
· The average time taken to register a death increased slightly after reviews began, rising from just under three days in 2014 to just over three days in 2016, and to over five days from 2021 onwards.
· Registration times for most deaths did not change, as only a small proportion are reviewed.
Delays mainly affected a small number of cases taking longer to register.
In summary, while the review process has caused minor delays for some deaths, it has had little effect on overall registration times.
How dates are used in Vital Events statistics
Calendar year
Unless we say otherwise, a “year” means a calendar year (January to December).
Quarters
Quarters are three‑month periods within the calendar year.
For example, quarter 1 or Q1 covers January to March.
Range of years
When we show a range of years (such as 1951 to 1955), the number shown is usually the average for that period, unless we say otherwise.
Some figures elsewhere on the NRS website use a different time period.
For example, population estimates count births and deaths that occur between 1 July one year and 30 June the next. So, data labelled 2024 to 2025 covers 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, even if the event was registered later.
Weekly registrations
For the use of Vital Events statistics:
· each week starts on a Monday
· weeks follow the ISO‑8601 standard numbering
· week 1 always starts in the new year
· the final week (week 52 or 53) may include a few days from the following year
This system has been used since 2016.
Due to the way weeks fall, adding up weekly figures for a year will not exactly match the total published for the calendar year.
