Figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions show that the number of children living in poverty in the UK has risen for a second year.

Across the UK, the number of children living in poverty rose by 100,000 in 2006-2007 to 2.9 million before housing costs. In Wales, 25% of children – 150,000 – are living in poverty before housing costs are taken into account, an increase from 144,000 the previous year.

In 1999, the UK Government pledged to halve child poverty by 2010 and to wipe it out by 2020. Economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies have said that the Treasury would have to find £2.8bn extra a year to have a "50-50 chance" of hitting the target.

The statistics can be downloaded from the Department for Work and Pensions website.