SELECT COUNT(*) execution time on large tables (v9.0.4-1)

Hi,

My application has a frequent need to issue a select count(*) on tables.
Some have a large row count. (The example below are from a 5.7 M row; Some
are larger).

Issuing either SELECT COUNT(*) or SELECT COUNT(<Primary_Key_Colum>) yelds
a sequential scan on table;

I have browsed catalog tables, digging for a real time Row.count but so far
did not find any.
QUESTION: Is there a better (faster) way to obtain the row count from a
table?

Table has been VACCUM ANALYZED prior EXPLAIN ANALYZE (Numbers are from a
test server)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
explain analyze select count(*) as qtd from ut_mailing_client ;
"Aggregate (cost=10000231424.23..10000231424.24 rows=1 width=0) (actual
time=7205.009..7205.010 rows=1 loops=1)"
" -> Seq Scan on ut_mailing_client (cost=10000000000.00..10000217054.58
rows=5747858 width=0) (actual time=0.034..3866.765 rows=5747311 loops=1)"
"Total runtime: 7205.071 ms"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------
explain analyze select count(utm_id) as qtd from ut_mailing_client ;
"Aggregate (cost=10000231424.23..10000231424.24 rows=1 width=4) (actual
time=7984.382..7984.382 rows=1 loops=1)"
" -> Seq Scan on ut_mailing_client (cost=10000000000.00..10000217054.58
rows=5747858 width=4) (actual time=0.028..4114.177 rows=5747311 loops=1)"
"Total runtime: 7984.443 ms"
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
------
explain analyze select count(beneficio) as qtd from ut_mailing_client ;
"Aggregate (cost=10000231424.23..10000231424.24 rows=1 width=11) (actual
time=7591.530..7591.530 rows=1 loops=1)"
" -> Seq Scan on ut_mailing_client (cost=10000000000.00..10000217054.58
rows=5747858 width=11) (actual time=0.032..3845.412 rows=5747311 loops=1)"
"Total runtime: 7591.595 ms"

--TABLE
STRUCTURE-------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
CREATE TABLE ut_mailing_client
(
utm_id serial NOT NULL,
beneficio character varying(10) NOT NULL,
.
.
.
CONSTRAINT ut_mailing_client_pkey PRIMARY KEY (beneficio),
CONSTRAINT ut_mailing_client_utm_id_key UNIQUE (utm_id)
)
WITH (
OIDS=FALSE
);

-----VACUM
ANALYZE---------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------
INFO: vacuuming "public.ut_mailing_client"
INFO: index "ut_mailing_client_pkey" now contains 5747311 row versions in
18926 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 6.50s/3.24u sec elapsed 39.03 sec.
INFO: index "ut_mailing_client_utm_id_key" now contains 5747311 row
versions in 12615 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 4.28s/2.19u sec elapsed 26.05 sec.
INFO: index "ut_mailing_client_utm_fk_lote_utm_dt_used_idx" now contains
5747311 row versions in 18926 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 6.39s/3.27u sec elapsed 38.90 sec.
INFO: "ut_mailing_client": found 0 removable, 1179 nonremovable row
versions in 31 out of 159576 pages
DETAIL: 0 dead row versions cannot be removed yet.
There were 0 unused item pointers.
0 pages are entirely empty.
CPU 17.17s/8.71u sec elapsed 104.02 sec.
INFO: vacuuming "pg_toast.pg_toast_69799"
INFO: index "pg_toast_69799_index" now contains 0 row versions in 1 pages
DETAIL: 0 index row versions were removed.
0 index pages have been deleted, 0 are currently reusable.
CPU 0.00s/0.00u sec elapsed 0.00 sec.
INFO: "pg_toast_69799": found 0 removable, 0 nonremovable row versions in 0
out of 0 pages
DETAIL: 0 dead row versions cannot be removed yet.
There were 0 unused item pointers.
0 pages are entirely empty.
CPU 0.00s/0.00u sec elapsed 0.00 sec.
INFO: analyzing "public.ut_mailing_client"
INFO: "ut_mailing_client": scanned 30000 of 159576 pages, containing
1080857 live rows and 0 dead rows; 30000 rows in sample, 5749295 estimated
total rows
Total query runtime: 111560 ms.

Carlos Sotto Maior
+55 11 8244-7899
csotto(at)sistemassim(dot)com(dot)br

Sistemas Sim Serviços e Tecnologia Ltda.
+55 11 5041-3086
Rua Tenente Gomes Ribeiro, 78
Vila Clementino (Próximo ao Metro Santa Cruz)
São Paulo - SP
04038-040