General Register Office for Scotland

The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) administers the registration of events such as births, deaths, marriages, civil partnerships, divorces and adoptions, and is responsible for the statutes relating to the formalities of marriage and conduct of civil marriage. We take the census of Scotland's population every ten years and prepare and publish demographic and other statistics for central and local Government, for medical research, and for the private sector. We also make available to customers public records about individuals, and maintain for the Scottish Executive the National Health Service Central Register. GROS is headed by the Registrar General for Scotland, who has a statutory duty to report each year on various statistical matters. This Annual Report is then laid before The Scottish Parliament by the First Minister. It contains an overview of what is happening in Scotland, based on demographic data collated for the previous calendar year. The annual report is supplemented by a set of Reference Tables that include detailed information on births, deaths (including information on cause of death), marriages, divorces, and population estimates for the same period. We also produce a provisional - Quarterly Return containing demographic data for the current year. In addition to the range of standard statistics (including Scottish census statistics) available, we produce other statistical output to order. Website includes information on the registration of births, deaths and marriages in Scotland, demographic statistics and census information.