Vital Events Quarterly Return for Third Quarter 2004

23 December 2004

The Registrar General today issued his Vital Events Quarterly Return for the third quarter of 2004.

It presents provisional figures for vital events (births, deaths and marriages) registered during the period 1 July 2004 to 30 September 2004.

"Today’s announcement has three pieces of good news:

The number of births was 0.4% higher than the same quarter last year. In 8 out of the last 9 quarter years, there have been more births than in the same period in the previous year.
There were over 12,700 marriages – a 3.1% increase on last year.
The number of deaths was 1.9% lower than in 2003.

"These changes help to defer the date when Scotland's population is forecast to fall below 5 million."

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