Children in Northern Ireland twice as likely to pray

Children in Northern Ireland are twice as likely to pray regularly as children in other parts of the UK, according to a new survey.

The survey by CBBC’s Newsround found that 57 per cent of children in Northern Ireland prayed most days, whereas the UK average was only 22 per cent.

The results also showed that 47 per cent of Northern Irish children want to do well at school and make their parents happy, compared with 34 per cent across the UK. Sixty-three per cent of children in Northern Ireland said that some children in their school were very badly behaved and made it difficult to learn, compared with 54 per cent across the UK.

Northern Irish children also seemed to be less comfortable with the internet, with nine per cent saying they felt uncomfortable using it, compared to only two per cent in the whole of the UK.

Children in Northern Ireland were also found to be more concerned about the credit crunch, money problems, animal cruelty and the environment.

The survey was conducted by Childwise and based on interviews with 1,000 children between the ages of six and 12 from all over the UK.

Sinead Rocks, Editor of Newsround, said, "The real surprise from this year's survey was the strength of feeling children had about the credit crunch … Adults like to think they can protect their children from the more difficult aspects of life but they can't."

Across the whole of the UK, around 20 per cent of children said they were fed up of hearing about the credit crunch, but 75 per cent said that they thought their childhood was better than that of their parents.

Among nine to 12 year olds, 14 per cent said that their biggest fear was being stabbed or shot.