Infant mortality has more than halved since 1996, statistics issued by the National Statistics Office show.

Deaths among under one-year-olds went down from 53 in 1996 to 23 last year, the statistics, issued on the occasion of World Population Day marked today, show.

The NSO said provisional figures from last year's census showed that Malta's population in November stood at 404,039.

The majority of deaths are among people who are older than 75. Deaths among over 75-year-olds have increased between 1996 and last year, going up from 1,475 to 1,847.

Life expectancy for women has shot up from less than 50 in 1870 to around 80 in 2005, while that for men went up from around 45 to around 75.

The number of live births has decreased by more than 1,000 between 1997 and last year, going down from 4,936 to 3,860. The statistics show that 14 of the mothers who gave birth last year were less than 15 years old.

The number of births outside marriage has increased from 356 in 1997 to 754 in 2005. More than 43 per cent of births outside marriage last year were to single mothers. The greatest number of single mothers - 135 - were less than 20 years old while 109 were aged between 20 and 24.

The tendency for earlier marriages is on the decline. The number of 16 to 19-year-old grooms went down from 60 in 1997 to eight last year, while the number of teenage brides decreased from 247 to 51.

The statistics show that only 54 per cent of 15 to 64-year-olds were in employment last year - 74.1 per cent of males and 33.6 per cent of females.

Just under three per cent of over 15-year-olds never attended school. The statistics show that 29.1 per cent attended primary or special school, 44 per cent attended secondary school, 14.6 per cent received post secondary education and 9.5 per cent received tertiary education.