1. According to the Declaration, “mankind owes to the child the best it has to give”.
2. An average girl reaches half her adult height at 18 months. For a boy it is 24 months.
3. “Children” is one of only three English plurals formed by adding the old -en ending. The others are “oxen” and “brethren”.
4. According to a recent survey, the average age at which children first use a microwave is seven.
5. “Childhood: the period of life intermediate between the idiocy of infancy and the folly of youth,” (Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary).
6. Twelfth Night is the only Shakespeare play that does not contain the words “child” or “children”.
7. Twenty-six per cent of the world’s population are under 15. In Niger, the figure is 50 per cent.
8. The average woman in Britain gives birth to 1.88 children. The world’s highest figure is in Niger where the average is 6.49 children.
9. The average cost of bringing up a child in the UK from birth to the age of 21 is estimated to be £230,000.
10. According to a recent survey, 10 per cent of UK children would not recognise a rhinoceros.