Scotland recorded fewer births in 2025 than in any year since records began in 1855, according to new figures from the Registrar General.

There were 45,067 live births registered during the year, 696 fewer than in 2024 and the third consecutive year in which Scotland has recorded a new historic low.

At the same time, 61,726 deaths were registered, meaning 2025 became the eleventh consecutive year in which more people died in Scotland than were born.

Scotland has experienced such a prolonged period of negative natural population change before, with deaths exceeding births for 11 years between 1995 and 2005, but the scale of the present gap is considerably greater.

Across that earlier period there were almost 35,000 more deaths than births, compared with almost 125,000 more deaths than births since 2014.

Scotland’s total fertility rate has now fallen to 1.23 children per woman, considerably below the 2.1 generally required for a population to replace itself without migration.

The country last recorded a fertility rate above 2.1 in 1973.

Despite the widening gap between births and deaths, Scotland’s population increased slightly in the year to 30 June 2025, with National Records of Scotland figures showing that growth was driven by migration.

Registrar General and National Records of Scotland Chief Executive Alison Byrne said:

“This is the eleventh year in a row where deaths have outnumbered births and the third in a row where we have a new record low for the number of births in Scotland.

“Generations of change are captured in these figures.

“This data will inform debate and decision-making across the public and private sectors, as we consider what this means for our future.”

The figures also reveal a significant change in Scotland’s leading causes of death, with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease narrowly overtaking ischaemic heart disease for the first time.

That comparison treats different cancers as separate causes, with cancer remaining the leading cause of death if all forms are grouped together.

There were 188 stillbirths during 2025, equivalent to 4.2 for every 1,000 live and still births, the highest rate since 2020 although still low by historical standards.

There were also 150 infant deaths, equivalent to 3.3 for every 1,000 live births and down from 3.5 in 2024.

Scotland recorded 27,191 marriages during the year, an increase of 236, while 944 civil partnerships were registered, the highest number since 2006, with mixed sex couples accounting for 82% of them.

The number of adoptions fell to 340, compared with 369 in each of the previous two years.

Behind all those individual statistics sits a much bigger demographic story.

Scotland now has fewer babies being born, substantially more people dying than being born and a population whose recent growth depends on people moving here.

Those are changes that will increasingly shape everything from the workforce and housing to schools, healthcare and the public services Scotland will need in the decades ahead.