(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Children comprised 35.1 per cent of the total Omani population till mid-2014 according to statistics published recently by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).
The NCSIreport showed that as of mid-2014 the number of Omani children aged under one to 14 years stood at 793907. Of the total children in the sultanate 42 per cent were aged under one year to four years.
Those aged less than one year to nine years comprised 32 per cent and 26 per cent were in the age group of ten and 14 years the figures showed. In terms of geographical distribution of children (aged under one to 14 years) Muscat and North Batinah governorates had 41 per cent of the total number of children compared to only two per cent in Musandam and Al Wusta governorates.
The report added that mortality rates of newborns and those below five years remained stable from 2009 to 2013. As per the annual health report published by the Ministry of Health in 2013 10.2 per cent of newborns weighed less than the normal weight and 4.3 per cent of every 1000 children aged below five years suffered from malnutrition.
In 2010 of the total number of children in the sultanate 1.1 per cent were disabled and were in the less than one to 14 years age bracket. One-fifth of the disabled were visually-challenged. The report also said that basic education is free and mandatory for all Omani children in the sultanate. Admission rate in public and private schools for grades 1 to 6 (2012-13) stood at 95.9 per cent three per cent more than 2009-10 it added.
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