These numbers rise to a staggering 24 percent when the study specifically focuses on 18-34 year olds.

The survey carried out by the charity Shelter reveals that as many as one in five people in the 18 to 44 age category have waited to begin a family for as long as six years, while 37 percent of these people believe the cost of housing gin the UK will further delay their plans for children for extra four years.

Shelter director of policy and campaigns Kay Boycott said that these numbers demonstrate just how much of a pervasive situation the housing crisis has created.

Shelter claimed that delaying the child bearing years could affect a woman’s fertility as they put off having kids until they can afford a reasonably priced home.

Officials at Shelter have claimed that some British lenders charge as much as 500 percent on loans and need to be investigated by authorities.

A spokeswoman with Infertility Network UK, Susan Seenan said there is a declining rate of success for fertility treatment with age, from 30 percent for women who is younger than 35 years of age to an alarmingly low 3 percent for women in their early forties.

As the country’s death toll rose by seven, to a total of 21, health authorities announced that vaccinations of children aged between six and five years could begin within weeks.

The said official statistics revealed one to four-year-olds had been hardest hit by the disease, but parents are split on whether they would vaccinate their children.

The National Public Health Service (NPHS) for Wales has sought to reinforce the pro-vaccination message, saying that the vaccine was the most effective tool to combat swine flu, which could be very serious in a small number of people.

A spokesman for the NHPS has urged that people to take the vaccine in all cases where it was being offered.

However Sarah Matthews, a 35 year-old mother of three-year-old twin boys from Cilfew, close to Neath, wasn’t convinced, saying that it seemed to be like the introduction of the vaccine was rushed, and that no real tests have been done on it.

But Leighton Jones of Glyncorrwg, near Port Talbot, whose 17-month son Alfie was vaccinated two weeks ago, said that the specialists did tell inform her that they didn’t know about the after-effects, but it was fine.

Work on the vaccine has progressed quickly, as drug companies had begun working on a vaccination as soon as the pandemic began to spread across the globe earlier this year.

Initial trials of the vaccine began in Australia in July and up to 1,000 children in the UK were involved in a two-week trial in September to establish which of the two vaccines worked better.

Director of the communicable disease surveillance centre at the NPHS for Wales, Dr Roland Salmon, said that the vaccine against swine flu had been tested and approved, and is now being offered to people most at risk of complications from the virus, as well as frontline health and social care workers.

It has been shown that about a quarter of children have never been to a zoo or animal park, with over a fifth having ever watched a wildlife programme on TV at the least twice.

As a result, a fifth of children aged between four and 12 can only correctly distinguish up to four basic wild animals such as gorillas, cheetahs and chimpanzees.

The survey showed that, out of 1,000 children, over a half of them struggled to describe a crocodile, while 44 per cent were unable to recognize a leopard and 12 per cent did not know what a gorilla was.

A further 14 per cent could not tell a male lion apart from a female by its mane.

Television presenter and wildlife expert Michaela Strachan said that the fact that so many British children could not identify basic animals was shocking.

She continued to say that learning about animals is a crucial part of a child’s education, and while visiting a good zoo is a great way to do so, it isn’t always convenient for parents to take their children to one is due to distance and cost.

The research found that children in Northern Ireland had the weakest animal knowledge with 15 per cent failing to recognize over two basic animals, while children in Yorkshire knocked spots off the competition by correctly describing an average of six animals.

She announced that 260,000 children aged six months to five years would be offered the jab, with infection rates reportedly high in the age group.

The announcement follows the death of an adult NHS Lothian patient who died from the disease, bringing the Scottish death toll to 39.

The patient is believed to have had underlying health concerns.

It is anticipated that children will be invited to their local GP practice to receive the vaccination, and the programme would last through December and into January, once the initial priority grops have been vaccinated.

Ms Sturgeon said that the decision had been made in line with independent scientific advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

She went on to say that it was their advice which had guided her in all te decisions made around the vaccination programme.

Current advice from the JCVI is that young children are more at risk of contracting the virus and the highest rate of hospitalisations have been in the under-five age grous.

She added however that the vast majority of young children in common with the rest of the population, have mild symptoms and they would recover relatively quickly, but wanted to ensure that young children are fully protected against the virus.

The strategy was confirmed by Ms Sturgeon while she presented the latest figures from Health Protection Scotland on swine flu.

The survey, commissioned by the reading charity Booktrust, polled 3,090 children and parents.

Surprisingly, the numbers also reveal that reading has become more popular and 96% of all children enjoy it.

Despite this encouraging news, one in 20 British households has fewer than 10 books, and boys usually have fewer reading material than girls.

The study also indicates that parents were less likely to read with boys than with girls.

The survey showed that 67% of mothers of children aged between four and five admitted to be the principal reader, while fathers said to play that role in 17% of the cases. This year’s results did show that father’s are increasingly involved with reading to their children.

Most parents said ‘pleasure’ was the reason given for reading with their kids, as 54% said the last reading period shared with their child had been the previous day and one in three do this activity everyday.

However, the study did reveal that 57% of parents said that their child devotes more time for watching DVDs and playing video or computer games than for reading.

Diana Johnson, England’s school minister, said parents who share this activity with their may inspire a lifetime’s love for books.

The event, which is presented from August 28 to 19, introduces young people to the arts and literature in ways they might not have tried before. Scheduled are poetry readings, seaside art, dance and music workshops.

Also features will be Rambert Dance Company, S4C’s Jac-y-Jwc, Catherine Aran, Megan Broadmeadow, Heather Dyer, Shakespeare 4 Kidz, Pig Town Theatre Company, Amber Smit, Ed Holden aka Mr Phormula, Tim Pugh, Ann Bridges, Eleri Jones, Andy Birch, Malachy Doyle, Ensemble Cymru and Owain Llwyd.

Printmaker Eleri Jones will also be making a collage of Llandudno with the help of 100 local kids.

Former magician David, said: “Children don’t automatically have theatre manners. If a play doesn’t interest them, or bores them, they won’t sit politely and clap at the end. They will shuffle in their seats, talk to their friends and, even if they don’t really want to, insist on being taken to the loo!

“I believe we all have an imagination muscle that will not develop unless it is exercised.”

Visit www.venuecymru.co.uk or call 01492 872000.

We would like to thank www.dailypost.co.uk for quotes used in this article.