diff --git a/doc/reference/libmdb/libmdb-sections.txt b/doc/reference/libmdb/libmdb-sections.txt
index 6bdde0e..c87c064 100644
--- a/doc/reference/libmdb/libmdb-sections.txt
+++ b/doc/reference/libmdb/libmdb-sections.txt
@@ -113,7 +113,6 @@ mdb_debug
 mdb_unicode2ascii
 mdb_ascii2unicode
 <SUBSECTION Private>
-mdb_alloc_stats
 mdb_test_string
 mdb_test_int
 mdb_add_sarg
diff --git a/include/mdbtools.h b/include/mdbtools.h
index 86cd92b..6743a86 100644
--- a/include/mdbtools.h
+++ b/include/mdbtools.h
@@ -484,8 +484,6 @@ void mdb_index_page_reset(MdbIndexPage *ipg);
 
 
 /* stats.c */
-extern MdbStatistics *mdb_alloc_stats(MdbHandle *mdb);
-extern void mdb_free_stats(MdbHandle *mdb);
 extern void mdb_stats_on(MdbHandle *mdb);
 extern void mdb_stats_off(MdbHandle *mdb);
 extern void mdb_dump_stats(MdbHandle *mdb);
diff --git a/src/libmdb/file.c b/src/libmdb/file.c
index b09b67d..0264bb2 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/file.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/file.c
@@ -168,8 +168,8 @@ void
 mdb_close(MdbHandle *mdb)
 {
 	if (!mdb) return;	
-	mdb_free_stats(mdb);
 	mdb_free_catalog(mdb);
+	g_free(mdb->stats);
 	g_free(mdb->backend_name);
 
 	if (mdb->f) {
diff --git a/src/libmdb/stats.c b/src/libmdb/stats.c
index c8dfabb..1abf285 100644
--- a/src/libmdb/stats.c
+++ b/src/libmdb/stats.c
@@ -23,20 +23,6 @@
 #include "dmalloc.h"
 #endif
 
-/* private function */
-MdbStatistics *mdb_alloc_stats(MdbHandle *mdb)
-{
-	mdb->stats = g_malloc0(sizeof(MdbStatistics));
-	return mdb->stats;
-}
-/* private function */
-void mdb_free_stats(MdbHandle *mdb)
-{
-	if (!mdb->stats) return;
-	g_free(mdb->stats);
-	mdb->stats = NULL;
-}
-
 /**
  * mdb_stats_on:
  * @mdb: Handle to the (open) MDB file to collect stats on.
@@ -53,7 +39,7 @@ void
 mdb_stats_on(MdbHandle *mdb)
 {
 	if (!mdb->stats) 
-		mdb_alloc_stats(mdb);
+		mdb->stats = g_malloc0(sizeof(MdbStatistics));
 
 	mdb->stats->collect = TRUE;
 }