The number of births decreased while deaths rose during the first three months of the year, new figures show.
Provisional statistics from the National Records of Scotland show births are down 6.2% in the first quarter of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012, while deaths are up by 6.1%.
There were 13,863 births registered between January and March – 909 fewer than the same three months in 2012. Meanwhile, there were 15,090 deaths registered between January and March – 870 more than in the same period of 2012.
This marks a change in the trend as it follows five successive decreases in the first quarter totals for deaths, from 15,820 in 2007 to 14,220 in 2012.
The number of marriages increased by 0.1% to 3,258, which was three more than during the first quarter of 2012, while there were 63 civil partnerships (29 male and 34 female), 20 fewer than during the first quarter of 2012.
Deaths from cancer fell by 1.2% to 3,853, deaths from coronary heart disease fell by 0.8% to 1,934 and there were 1,250 deaths from stroke, a rise of 7.6%.
Tim Ellis, chief executive of the National Records of Scotland, said: “Today’s statistics show a fall in the number of births registered, with fewer than in the first quarter of each of the years from 2007 to 2011, inclusive. The number of births had been tending to decline gradually since 2008.
“The number of deaths rose to the highest quarterly total since the first quarter of 2007. The number of deaths had been generally falling until 2011. Each of the last four quarters have had more deaths than in the same quarter of the previous year.”