The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics reported this week that 25.6 percent of females who became engaged in the Palestinian Authority-controlled areas of Judea and Samaria during 2008 were under the age of 18 years.
According to a news release for Friday's International Day of the Child only one percent of area males who became engaged last year were in the same age category.
Children under the age of 18 made up almost half -- 49.4 percent -- of the total population of the Palestinian Authority by the middle of 2009. Slightly less than half -- 47.3% -- of the estimated 1.9 million live in Judea and Samaria; slightly more in Hamas-controlled Gaza.
The number of households with children under 18 years and computers increased by 43.9 percent, to 51.8 percent, between 2006 and 2009. During that time, the percentage of households with children, and those that had internet service increased by nearly two thirds, to 28.1 percent.