Registrar General Quarterly Tables, Quarter 2 (April to June) 2021

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) has today published the Registrar General Quarterly Report: Quarter 2 2021 that provides details regarding deaths, births, marriages and civil partnerships.

The statistics, which cover 1^st April to 30^th June 2021, show there was a provisional total of 3,772 deaths registered. The rate of deaths per 1,000 population decreased from 10.3 in Quarter 1 2021, to 8.0 in Quarter 2 2021. Covid-19 was the underlying cause of 43 (1.1%) of these registered deaths (down from 921 the previous quarter). This brings the provisional total number of registered deaths with an underlying cause of death of Covid-19 to 2,591 (9.9%) since the start of 2020.

In comparison, the provisional number of deaths where Covid-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate since the beginning of 2020 was 2,982. This means that Covid-19 was the underlying cause of death in 86.9% of all deaths that mentioned Covid-19 on the death certificate.  

The provisional number of deaths in Quarter 2 2021 where the underlying cause was cancer was 1,134 (30.1%), 345 (9.1%) were due to non-covid respiratory conditions and 400 (10.6%) were due to ischaemic heart disease. On average, over the previous five years (2016-2020) 27.6% of annual deaths were due to cancer, 11.8% from respiratory conditions and 9.9% from ischaemic heart disease.

There were 76 suicide deaths (including events of undetermined intent) registered in Quarter 2 2021. These data should not be interpreted as the number of suicides occurring during Quarter 2, however, due to the time lag for such deaths to be investigated by the Coroner and then subsequently registered. This is the same as the number of suicide deaths registered in Quarter 1 2021 (76).

During the Quarter, 5,355 births, 1,687 marriages and 10 civil partnerships were registered. For comparative purposes there were 2,625 births, 169 marriages and 5 civil partnerships registered in the same Quarter of 2020. However, both of these time periods have been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and associated social restrictions, Quarter 2 in 2020 in particular. It should be noted that the number of births registered may not be a true reflection of births occurring in each quarter since the beginning of 2020 as Register Offices have given continued priority to death registrations.

Of the 1,687 registered marriages in Quarter 2, 98 (5.8%) were same sex marriages (including both civil and religious marriages). Over half (57.1% or 56) of the 98 same-sex marriages were female unions. Almost two-thirds (63.3%) of same-sex marriages were conversions from a previous civil partnership. There were 10 civil partnerships registered in quarter 2 2021 and of this 3 were same sex couples and 7 were opposite sex couples.

The tables and Statistical Press Release are available from the latest Registrar General Quarterly Tables webpage.

If you would like to receive alerts about Vital Statistics releases, please email demography@nisra.gov.uk

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