Births in Scotland at lowest level since 1855

Baby Elena with proud parents Jodie and Neil Moir in Aberdeen Maternity Hospital on Christmas Day

The number of children born in Scotland last year was the lowest since records began in 1855, official statistics have shown.

The National Records of Scotland said 49,863 births were registered in 2019, down 1,445 on the previous year.

The number of babies born was down for the 11th year in a row and there were more deaths than births for the fifth year running.

There were 8,245 more deaths than births last year.

The number of deaths fell slightly to 58,108 but it was still the second highest annual total since 2003.

Births have been falling over the long term, from more than 100,000 a year in the early 1960s.

The previous low point was 2002 (51,270 births) which was followed by an increase to a recent high of 60,041 in 2008.

Births have decreased steadily since then.

The figures also showed there were 26,007 marriages in 2019, the lowest number ever recorded. Of these, 912 were same sex marriages.

There were 83 civil partnerships registered, 50 involving male couples and 33 involving female couples.

There were 174 stillbirths in 2019, a rate of 3.5 for every thousand live and still births. This was the lowest stillbirth rate ever recorded.