The latest Harry Potter book continues to break records around the world while in the UK, Waterstones sales were more than double those of the previous volume of the boy wizard's adventures.

In the first seven days since 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' unleashed a new wave of wizard mania, Waterstones sold 460,000 copies across its 311 branches in the UK. That is more than double the sales of the previous book, 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,' the publisher Bloomsbury said this morning.

At bookshops and supermarkets across the UK, a total of 2,652,656 copies of the latest book were sold in the first 24 hours, Bloomsbury said - up 32% from the first day total for the previous book in July 2005. In Germany, 398,271 copies were sold.

In Australia, 573,845 copies were sold in the first 24 hours - a jump of 64% from last time. Total sales of all seven Harry Potter titles in Australia now exceed 5m copies.

In India, the new book sold an estimated 170,000 copies in the first 12 hours, breaking the record set by its predecessor.

Bloomsbury sales have also been strong in China in the first weekend of publication. Amazon China was reported to have sold more than 7,000 copies. Pre-orders in China were more than 200% higher than those for the previous book.

A box set of all seven Harry Potter titles is out in October.