Welcome to 441 bundles of joy

Renfrewshire’s families welcomed 441 bouncing babies in the first quarter of this year, the latest figures show.

And boys are winning the battle of the sexes with the stork bringing 226 newborn lads compared to 215 girls.

The good news is that the Paisley area’s birth rate is higher than the national average for the first three months of 2018, with 10.1 live births per 1,000 population compared to only 9.6 per cent of the rest of the country.

The National Records of Scotland data shows Renfrewshire’s population standing at 176,830 as of the end of March 2018, up by 900 people from 175,930 in June 2017.

However, looking at the bigger picture, it is the fairer sex which is winning in the numbers’ game.

Women outnumber men in the local authority area, as there are 91,570 females, compared with 85,260 blokes.

While the number of people dying in the Paisley area is higher than the Scottish average with Buddies mourning the loss of 640 loved ones, comprised of 328 women and 312 men, passing away.

That is equivalent to losing 14.7 per 1,000 population compared to 13.3 across all 32 council areas in the country.

Records bosses revealed that 12,713 births registered in the first quarter of 2018 was 539 fewer than the same period of 2017.

And the number of deaths registered across the country, 17,771, was 2,060 – 13.1 per cent – higher than the same period of 2017.

The start of 2018 witnessed the highest number of deaths recorded since 1986.

Anne Slater, the acting reg i s t rar general for Scotland, said: “Over the longer term, deaths from coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease have decreased considerably whilst the number of deaths from cancer and respiratory disease has risen slightly.

“There has been a relatively large increase in the number of deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease with such deaths now accounting for more than 10 per cent of all deaths compared to five per cent a decade ago.”

But it’s not all doom and gloom, with 117 happy couples getting hitched in Renfrewshire in the period up until March.

The country’s population has now reached 5,424,800, comprised of 2,640,300 men and 2,784,500 women.