Hundreds fewer births than deaths were recorded in Glasgow last year.

While the death rate has returned to more expected levels after the covid pandemic, the birth rate is very low.

The difference between births and deaths in Glasgow was not as large as across Scotland as a whole where the birth rate was the lowest ever.

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In the biggest city in the country, there were 487 more deaths than births 7%.

In 2023 there were 6459 deaths registered in Glasgow and 5972 births.

Across Scotland, the lowest ever recorded birth rate led to a gap of 27% between births and deaths.

National Records of Scotland produced the statistics There were 62,157 deaths and only 45,822 births, a gap of 27%.

In some rural areas the gap was even wider.

The report shows a declining population based on births replacing deaths and in Scotland births were at the lowest ever level.

The fertility rate was also the lowest ever.

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The NRS report stated: "Births have been falling over the long term and fell to their lowest point in 2002 before increasing to reach a recent high point of 60,041 in 2008, generally decreasing since then."

The total fertility rate - which is defined as the number of children that would be born to each woman if she were to live to the end of her child-bearing years and give birth to children in line with age-specific fertility rates - fell to its lowest ever recorded level in 2023 at 1.3.

For a population to replace itself, that rate needs to be around 2.1, but in Scotland the total fertility rates fell to 0.98 in Edinburgh and 1.12 in Glasgow.

Phillipa Haxton, Head of Vital Events Statistics, said: “The publication of these annual figures for 2023 gives us an opportunity to step back and look at the bigger picture.

“We’re seeing the number of excess deaths falling after three years when they were higher due to the impact of the pandemic.

“The number of births has fallen, and the total fertility rate is the lowest ever recorded reflecting the move towards smaller families.”