About this Dataset

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

Edition in this dataset

Current edition of this dataset

Previous versions of this data are available.

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.