More than half the babies born in Scotland last year were to unmarried parents.

More than half the babies born in Scotland last year were to unmarried parents - the first time they were in the majority.

Statistics on the number of births, deaths and marriages in 2008, relesased today, also showed the number of couples tying the knot reached its lowest level since Victorian times.

The provisional figures from the General Register Office for Scotland showed there were 60,041 babies born last year.

Of those 30,055 - some 50.1% of all live births - were to unmarried parents.

That compares to 24.5% of babies being born to unmarried parents in 1988 and just 9.8% in 1978.

Births in Scotland also rose for the sixth year in a row, bringing the total number of babies born to the highest figure since 1995.

Registrar General for Scotland Duncan Macniven said: "There were 2,260 more births in 2008 than in 2007. The 60,041 total for the year was the highest since 1995. This is the sixth annual increase in a row."

He added: "The proportion of births to unmarried parents has been rising steadily for several years and in 2008 topped 50% for the first time in a whole year. The proportion varies greatly across the country and in some areas has been above 50% for several years."

The number of marriages that took place in Scotland fell to 28,903 in 2008 - down by almost 1000 on the previous year's total of 29,866.

And the number of couples saying "I do" was the lowest since the period 1891 to 1895.

The number of couples who divorced in 2008 also fell, going from 12,773 in 2007 to 9,333 last year - a drop of more than a quarter.

But Mr Macniven explained that was because of a change in the law in 2006, which reduced the separation period for couples who are divorcing.

This led to an increase in the number of divorces in 2006, with the number dropping after then.

Mr Macniven said the average number of divorces over 2006 to 2008 was about 11,700 a year, which was "similar to the levels before the law was changed".

The number of deaths fell slightly, going from 55,986 in 2007 to 55,699 in 2008.

Mr Macniven said: "Cancer, which accounted for over a quarter of deaths, coronary heart disease, respiratory system diseases and strokes remain the biggest causes of death.

"The number of deaths from cancer fell slightly and coronary heart disease killed 532 fewer people - over 5% down on 2007."

But he added that deaths from respiratory diseases and strokes had risen slightly.