The Welsh Assembly Government has released vital statistics for Wales for 2007.

They show:

• There were around 34,400 live births in 2007, up from 33,600 in 2006. More than half (54 per cent) of these births were outside marriage, one percentage point higher than in 2006 (53 per cent).
• There were 171 still births in 2007.
• In 2007 the estimated total fertility rate was an average of 1.90 children per woman, up from 1.86 in 2006.
• In 2007 there were 182 deaths of infants under one year, up from 137 in 2006. The corresponding infant mortality rate in 2007 was 5.3 deaths per thousand live births, higher than 4.1 in the previous year.
• At around 32,100, the total number of deaths in 2007 was higher than the 2006 figure of 31,100.

Further information is available on the Statistics for Wales website.