Births - Variation within Scotland
Last updated: August 2008
In 2007, the overall birth rate for Scotland, was 11.2 births per 1,000 population (of both sexes and all ages). An equivalent figure can be calculated for each Council area and for each NHS Board area. However, comparing the "crude" birth rates of different areas could present a misleading picture, because of differences between them in the proportion of the population who are women of child-bearing age, and (in particular) women in the peak child-bearing ages. Therefore, the comparisons that appear below use birth rates which have been "standardised" for differences in the age/sex-distribution of the population in each area.
Standardised rates which are based on the age/sex-distribution of the population of Scotland as a whole enable comparisons of the birth rates in different parts of Scotland with each other, and with the overall birth rate for Scotland, which are not affected by differences in their populations' age/sex-distributions. It should be noted that these are standardised versions of the overall birth rate - not standardised fertility rates based on the female population of child-bearing age.
Among the Council areas, standardised birth rates in 2007 were highest in Moray (14.3 per 1,000 population), East Lothian (13.7), Clackmannanshire (13.5), Scottish Borders (13.3), West Lothian (13.2) and Aberdeenshire and Dumfries & Galloway (both 13.1) - all areas with standardised birth rates which were markedly higher than the overall figure of 11.2 for Scotland as a whole. Standardised birth rates in 2007 were lowest in Edinburgh (8.1 per 1,000 population) and Glasgow (9.7); as the figures for Aberdeen City (10.2) and Dundee City (10.8) were also below the overall figure for Scotland, it appears that the highest birth rates tend to be in "rural" Council areas, and the lowest birth rates tend to be in "large urban" Council areas.
Among the NHS Board areas, the standardised birth rates were highest in Borders (13.3), Dumfries & Galloway (13.1) and Western Isles (12.8), and lowest in Lothian (9.8). Other NHS Board areas had standardised birth rates which were between 10.6 and 12.6 per 1,000 population, and therefore were not as markedly different from the overall Scottish figure of 11.2 per 1,000 population.