Ministerial Statement by the Minister of Home Affairs, The Hon. R. Patricia Gordon-Pamplin, JP, MP
Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce the Annual Report of the Registry General for the year ended December 31st, 2015. The Registrar General, recognizing 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, 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.
Mr. Speaker, in preparation of the Annual Report, the Registrar General 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 second time in five years there has been a slight increase in the number of births. In 2015 there were 583 births; an increase of 9 or 1.6% over the 574 births recorded in 2014. The live birth rate of the population has increased by 1 point per thousand from 8.8 in 2014 to 8.9 in 2015. There were five babies born in 2015 in the residence of the parents, a decrease of one (1) for the year ending 2014.
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 2015 reflects 75.0% or 437 of the total live births have at least one Bermudian parent. In 2015, 146 or 25.0% have parents who are both non-Bermudian.
Mr. Speaker, Honourable Members are advised that in 2015, 457 deaths were recorded among residents. A death rate of 7.0 per thousand of the population for 2015 reflects a decrease of 21 or 4.4% from 478 recorded in 2014. The Report also indicates that there were a total of 485 deaths recorded for the year ending 31st December 2014; seven (7) were in respect of non-resident persons. Two (2) stillbirths were recorded in 2015.
Mr. Speaker, there was an increase of 126 or 0.19% in the estimated resident population at the end of 2015 at 65,313 as opposed to the 65,187 in resident population estimated in 2014. At the end of 2015 there were 2,713 more females than males in the population figures.
Mr. Speaker, for the year ending 31st December 2015 there were 509 marriages performed in Bermuda, a 6.7% increase from the 477 marriages recorded in 2014. During 2015 marriages between non-residents accounted for 272 or 53.4% of the total of 509. This figure still is in keeping with the trend over the past five years for marriages between non-residents to exceed the number of marriages between residents and marriages between residents and non-residents. The Report also shows that there were 194 marriages between residents and 43 between residents and non-residents.
Mr. Speaker, 565 marriages were performed on board twenty eight Bermuda registered ships in 2015. This total represents a decrease of 4 or 0.7% from the 2014 total of 569. The cumulative number of marriages (local and maritime) processed through the Registry General for the year ended 31st December, 2014 was 1,074 as compared to 1,046 for the year ending 2014.
In closing, Mr. Speaker, the Annual Report seeks to provide an illustrative statistical digest of vital events such as live births, deaths, stillbirths, marriages, adoptions and re-registration of births for the year ended December 31st, 2015.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker