Mr. Speaker,  

Today I rise to introduce the Annual Report of the Registry General for the year ended December 31st, 2024.  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 the law, the Registrar General shall 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 General is also required 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 following sources:  

• the Records Office of the King Edward VII Hospital relating to births;
• local funeral directors, medical practitioners, and the Coroner’s Office in relations to deaths;  
• local domestic partnership officers in relations to domestic partnerships; and,
• 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 there has been a slight decrease in the number of births.  In 2024 there were 425 births; a decrease of 11 compared with the 436 births recorded in 2023. Also, the live birth rate of the population has decreased. For a second year, there were no home births or babies born at the residence of the parents for the year ending 2024. 

Mr. Speaker,  

Based on information provided by the parents at the time of registration of their children’s birth, the distribution of live births by nationality indicates that 76.7% or 326 of the total live births had at least one Bermudian parent. In 2024, 99 or 23.3% of the births had parents who are both non-Bermudian. Mr. Speaker,  Honourable colleagues are advised that in 2024, 602 deaths were recorded among residents. A death rate of 9.5 per thousand of the population for 2024 reflects a decrease of 20 from the 622 deaths recorded in 2023.  

The Report also indicates that there were fourteen deaths in respect of non-resident persons, which brings the total number of deaths recorded for 2024 to 616.  

Mr. Speaker,  

For the year ending 31st December 2024 there were 329 marriages performed in Bermuda, an increase of 19 from the 310 marriages recorded in 2023. During 2024, marriages between parties who were both nonresidents accounted for only 117 of the total of 329.  This figure continues the recent trend where the number of marriages between residents (175) and between residents and non-resident parties (37) combined to exceed the marriages between non-residents.  

Mr. Speaker,  

345 marriages were performed onboard twenty-eight Bermuda registered ships in 2024. This total represents an increase of 16 from the 2023 total of 329.  The increase is due to the efforts of the cruise line industry to expand services for weddings onboard their ships. The cumulative number of marriages (local and maritime) processed through the Registry General for the year ending 31st December 2024 was 674 as compared to 639 for the year ending 2023.  

Mr. Speaker,  

The Domestic Partnership Act 2018 allowed for the formalization of unions between parties as an alternative to marriages.  In 2024 there were nine domestic partnership unions recorded for that period.  All nine domestic partnership unions were formalized at the Registry General Office. 

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, 2024. 

Thank you, Mr. Speaker.