Pregnancy, births and maternity: fertility rates

Fertility rates 

The data below are taken from National Records of Scotland’s Vital Events Reference Tables.

The fertility rate continues to fall: 

Between 1971 and 2023 the fertility rate fell from 86 to 45 live births per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. 

Women are increasingly having children later:  

  • In 2000, the highest fertility rate was for women aged 25-29 years old.  
  • In 2023, the highest fertility rate was in women aged 30-34 years old.  

Women aged 30 years and over accounted for over half (60%) of all live births in 2023 and 5% were to mothers aged 40 years and over. In comparison, in 2000 47% of births were to women aged 30 years and over.

Pregnancies in young women continue to fall: 

The fertility rate of women under 20 years of age: 

  • 48 per 1,000 women in 1971,  
  • 28 per 1,000 women in 2001,  
  • 8 per 1,000 women in 2023. 

Please note: If you require the most up-to-date data available, please check the data sources directly as new data may have been published since these data pages were last updated. Although we endeavour to ensure that the data pages are kept up-to-date, there may be a time lag between new data being published and the relevant ScotPHO web pages being updated.