Dataset(s): Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages

Annual UK and constituent country figures for births, deaths, marriages, divorces, civil partnerships and civil partnership dissolutions.

Cyswllt:
Anne Baker, Jon Darke, Rebecca Holley and Alex Howland

Dyddiad y datganiad:
24 February 2023

Cyhoeddiad nesaf:
January 2024

Return to 'Vital statistics in the UK: births, deaths and marriages'

Provides files to download data as it existed for this dataset on previous dates.

Statistics are most often revised for 1 of 2 reasons:

  1. For certain statistics initial estimates are released with the expectation that these may be revised and updated as further data becomes available.
  2. Revisions may also be made when methods or systems are changed.

These types of planned revisions should not be confused with errors in released statistics, which are genuine mistakes. Such mistakes occur rarely and, when they do happen, corrections are made in a timely manner, announced and clearly explained to users in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics (Principle 2, Practice 7).

Latest version

xlsx (358.0 kB)

Previous versions

Superseded files Reason for update Date superseded
xlsx (494.6 kB) Scheduled update/revision 24 February 2023 09:30
xlsx (485.4 kB) Scheduled update/revision 3 December 2021 09:30
xlsx (477.5 kB) Scheduled update/revision 14 January 2021 09:30
xlsx (478.9 kB)
Correction See correction
In the births table we have made a minor correction to the UK general fertility rate in 2018 from 58.7 to 58.5, live births per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 years. We apologise for any inconvience caused.
22 November 2019 17:00
xlsx (450.8 kB) Scheduled update/revision 22 November 2019 09:30
xls (688.6 kB) Scheduled update/revision 15 November 2018 09:30
xls (562.2 kB) Scheduled update/revision 20 November 2017 09:30
xls (511.5 kB) Scheduled update/revision 28 November 2016 09:30

Important notes and usage information

Main points from latest release

  • In 2021, there were 694,685 live births in the UK, an increase of 1.9% from 681,560 in 2020.

  • There were 666,659 deaths registered in the UK in 2021, a decrease of 3.3% from 689,629 in 2020.

  • There was a drop of 6.4% in the number of marriages of opposite-sex couples in the UK in 2019; the total of 245,472 was the lowest recorded since 1888.

  • In 2019, the latest year for which figures are available, there was a decrease in same-sex marriages in England and Wales; with the 2.8% drop to 6,728 leading to the lowest figure since 2015.

  • In 2021, same-sex civil partnerships in the UK increased by 30.0% from 2020; the figure of 1,136 was similar to the number of formations before 2020.

  • There were 6,131 opposite-sex civil partnerships formed in 2021; this is the first year full UK figures have been produced.

  • In 2021, there was a 9.3% increase in the number of opposite-sex divorces in England and Wales; the figure of 111,934 was the highest recorded since 2013.

  • Divorces of same-sex couples in England and Wales increased by 36.1% in 2021, to 3,142; this comes after a 40.4% increase in 2020 compared with 2019.

  • The number of dissolutions of same-sex civil partnerships, in England and Wales, during 2021 increased by 1.3%, to 680.