Scottish births outweigh deaths

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The number of babies born in Scotland was higher than the number of deaths for the first time in more than a decade, new figures have revealed.

Provisional figures from the Registrar General for Scotland showed there were 55,690 births in 2006 - a rise of 1,304 from 2005.

This was the highest total recorded since 1998.

There were 55,089 deaths last year - 1.2% less than in 2005 with the number involving babies under one down 13%.

There were 248 deaths involved the under ones - the lowest number recorded since registration began in 1855.

Biggest killers

Registrar General for Scotland, Duncan Macniven, said: "For the first time since 1994 more births than deaths were registered last year.

"There were 1,304 more births in 2006 than in 2005, making the annual births for 2006 the highest since 1998."

Cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke remained Scotland's biggest killers.

Last year cancer accounted for 27% of all deaths, heart disease was responsible for 17% and 10% were as a result of strokes.

The number of deaths caused by coronary heart disease fell by 8%

However, compared with 2005, the number of deaths caused by coronary heart disease was down by 8% and the number of fatalities caused by strokes dropped 5.3%.

There was also a 0.4% fall in the number of cancer deaths.

The figures also showed a fall in the number of couples getting married, with 29,896 marriages taking place in 2006, down 3% from the previous year and the fifth lowest since Victorian times.

There was also a large increase in the number of couples splitting up, with divorces rising from 10,940 in 2005 to 13,013 in 2006, a rise of 19%.

This is due to changes in family law brought in 2005, which decreased the amount of time couples had to be separated for before ending their marriage.

However, Mr Macniven said: "The effect of this change is likely to decrease over the next few years."

'On track'

Last year was also the first full year that same-sex couples could enter into civil partnerships and there were 1,047 of these registered - of which 580 were male couples and 467 were female couples.

That brings the total number of civil partnerships in Scotland to 1,131.

Health Minister Andy Kerr welcomed the fall in deaths from Scotland's three biggest killers.

"In particular, far fewer people have died from heart disease and strokes in the last year due to improvements in services, quicker treatment and people making lifestyle changes to reduce their risk," he said.

He added that £40m had been invested in tackling those diseases and that the Scottish Executive was "firmly on track" to meet its targets to cut deaths.

Deputy Health Minister Lewis Macdonald welcomed the fall in infant deaths, adding that work was ongoing to cut infant deaths in deprived areas where the rates were higher.