The number of people in West Dunbartonshire getting hitched increased by 65% in 2022, latest figures show.

There were 205 marriages across the local authority area last year, compared to 124 in 2021.

Within that figure, the number of same sex weddings jumped from one to six.

There were also four civil partnerships in West Dunbartonshire during 2022, compared to one in 2021. 

The new figures published by National Records of Scotland (NRS) also show an increase in the number of births in the same period, from 769 to 852.

Meanwhile, the number of deaths fell from 1,238 to 1,155, in line with the national trend.

In 2022, West Dunbartonshire had a population of 87,790, with the majority - 45,836 - being female.

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Across the country, there was a large increase in couples tying the knot in 2022, comparable to the post-war booms of 1919 and 1945.

There were 630 civil partnerships registered in 2022, the highest number since 2007. 

The majority of civil partnerships in Scotland are mixed sex (84% in 2022), following a legislation change in 2021 that allowed this.

The report also revealed that Scotland's Total Fertility Rate (TFR) fell to a new low of 1.28 last year, down from 1.30 in 2021.

TFR must be at least 2.1 for a country's population to replace itself.

Daniel Burns, head of vital events statistics at NRS, said: "Following the global health emergency these statistics show us the scale of the disruption. Only the two world wars have had more impact on the number of marriages taking place.

"There were 62,941 deaths in 2022, down by 1% on 2021. There were 15,982 more deaths than births. This measure is sometimes called 'natural change'. 

"The last time Scotland had more births than deaths was in 2014. Scotland's overall population has continued to grow since this time through inward migration alone."