Fife recorded the biggest gap between births and deaths of any council area in Scotland last year, newly published official figures show.
There were 4,312 deaths and 2,853 births registered in Fife during 2025, meaning 1,459 more people died than were born.
The difference, known as a natural decrease, was larger in Fife than anywhere else in Scotland.
Dumfries and Galloway recorded the next-largest gap, with 996 more deaths than births, followed by Highland, where the difference was 938, and South Ayrshire, where it was 910.
Midlothian was the only council area to record more births than deaths, with 963 births and 949 deaths, resulting in a natural increase of 14.
Fife’s birth rate was 7.6 per 1,000 people, below the Scotland-wide rate of 8.1. It ranked 19th out of Scotland’s 32 council areas by birth rate.
Its crude death rate was 11.5 per 1,000 people, above the Scottish rate of 11.1. Fife ranked 16th of 32 council areas by crude death rate.
When adjusted to account for the age and sex profile of local populations, Fife’s standardised death rate was 10.7 per 1,000 people. This also ranked 16th of 32 council areas.
The difference between the two measures suggests Fife’s crude death rate is linked in part to the age profile of its population, rather than a higher underlying risk of death.
Age-standardised figures allow fairer comparisons between places with different proportions of older people.
Fife therefore sits in the middle of Scotland’s council-area rankings for both crude and age-standardised mortality, rather than among the areas with the highest death rates.
The figures show Fife had an estimated population of 373,990 in 2025. It accounted for around 6.7 per cent of Scotland’s population, 6.3 per cent of births and 7.0 per cent of deaths.
There were also 12 stillbirths, 16 perinatal deaths, eight neonatal deaths and 11 infant deaths recorded in Fife during the year.
The figures are published by National Records of Scotland as Official Statistics Accredited.
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