Minister: Annual Report Of Registry General
In 2018 there were 530 births, 532 deaths were recorded among residents, and there were 473 marriages performed in Bermuda, Minister of Home Affairs Walter Roban said.
Speaking in the House of Assembly, the Minister said he was introducing the Annual Report of the Registry General for the year ended December 31st, 2018.
“The Registrar has relied on information received from the Records Office of the King Edward VII Hospital relating to births; from the local funeral directors and medical practitioners in relations to deaths; and from local marriage officers and Masters of Bermuda registered ships in relation to local and maritime marriages respectively,” said Minister Roban.
The Minister’s full statement follows below:
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the Annual Report of the Registry General for the year ended December 31st, 2018. The Registrar General recognizes the essential role that vital statistical information plays in planning for the provision of services in areas such as tourism, health, education and housing, to name a few, and has performed his duties to a high standard in the recording, collating and presenting of the data to be included in the Annual Report.
Mr. Speaker, in accordance with Section 19 of the Registration [Births and Deaths] Act 1949, the Registrar-General shall, within ninety days after the expiration of each calendar year, compile for publication in such form and manner as the Minister may approve a summary of the births and deaths which occurred during the year, together with a general report on the increase or decrease of the population of Bermuda. The Registrar is required also under section 35 of the Marriage Act 1944 to publish a summary of marriages conducted each year.
In preparation of the Annual Report, Mr. Speaker, the Registrar has relied on information received from the Records Office of the King Edward VII Hospital relating to births; from the local funeral directors and medical practitioners in relations to deaths; and from local marriage officers and Masters of Bermuda registered ships in relation to local and maritime marriages respectively.
Mr. Speaker, the Report which deals primarily with the vital statistics pertaining to the Island’s residential population indicates that for the first time in three years there has been a slight decrease in the number of births. In 2018 there were 530 births; a decrease of 46 or 7.9% over the 576 births recorded in 2017. Also, the live birth rate of the population has decreased by 0.7 point per thousand from 9.0 in 2017 to 8.3 in 2018. There were three babies born in 2018 in the residence of the parents. This is the same number of babies born at home 2017.
Mr. Speaker, the distribution of live births by nationality based on information provided by the parents at the time of registration of their children’s birth, for 2018 reflects 83.8% or 444 of the total live births have at least one Bermudian parent. In 2018, 86 or 16.2% of the births have parents who are both non-Bermudian.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Colleagues are advised that in 2018, 532 deaths were recorded among residents. A death rate of 8.3 per thousand of the population for 2018 reflects a decrease of 51 or 10.6% from 481 recorded in 2017. The Report also indicates that 11 were in respect of non-resident persons. There was one stillbirth recorded for the 2018 period.
Mr. Speaker, at this juncture, I must point out that I found an error on page 1, under General Information, where stillbirths were recorded as five for 2018. However the correct figure of one is listed on page 23 in table 5.4.
Mr. Speaker, there was a decrease of 2 or 0.003% in the estimated resident population at the end of 2018 at 63,919 as opposed to the 63,921 in resident population estimated in 2017. At the end of 2018 there were 2,435 more females than males in the population figures.
Mr. Speaker, if you compare statistics recorded in 2016, and statistics provided for 2018, it would appear that there has been a significant drop in the population. However, the population estimates were re-based in 2016 after the 2016 Population and Housing Census. The re-base of the data is the reason why the population estimates are lower from 2016 forward.
Mr. Speaker, for the year ending 31st December 2018 there were 473 marriages performed in Bermuda, a 7.5% increase from the 440 marriages recorded in 2017. During 2018 marriages between parties who were both non-residents accounted for 265 or 56% of the total of 473. This figure still is in keeping with the trend over the past five years where marriages between non-residents exceed the number of marriages between residents and marriages between a resident party and a non-resident party. The Report also shows that there were 167 marriages between parties who were both residents and 41 marriages between a resident and non-resident.
Mr. Speaker, of the total 473 marriages recorded in 2018, six were same-sex marriages which represents a decrease of 4 or 40% from the total of ten same-sex marriages in 2017. All six of the same-sex marriages were performed at the Registry General as civil ceremonies, and none of the marriages were religious ceremonies held at a hotel and a home. During 2018 same-sex marriages between parties who were both residents accounted for 3 or 50% of the total of six marriages. The report also shows that there was one same-sex marriage between non-residents, and two same-sex marriages between a resident and non-resident.
Mr. Speaker, 472 marriages were performed on board twenty eight Bermuda registered ships in 2018. This total represents an increase of 20 or 4.2% from the 2017 total of 452. Of the 472 maritime marriages, four or 0.8% were same-sex marriage ceremonies. The cumulative number of marriages [local and maritime] processed through the Registry General for the year ended 31st December, 2018 was 945 as compared to 872 for the year ending 2017.
Mr. Speaker, the Domestic Partnership Act 2018 allowed for the formalization of unions between parties. In 2018 there were two domestic partnership unions recorded for that period. Both domestic partnership ceremonies were performed at the Registry General Office and none of the ceremonies were formalized at an alternative approved location as allowed for under the Domestic Partnership Act 2018.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, the Annual Report seeks to provide an illustrative statistical digest of vital events such as live births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages, domestic partnerships, adoptions and re-registration of births for the year ended December 31st, 2018. I would like to thank the Registrar General and his team for their hard work in producing this document.
“In 2018 there were 530 births, 532 deaths were recorded among residents”
And the tax base continues to shrink.