NOVEMBER is Child’s Month and in honour of this special occasion, we will focus on some facts about our youths, laws and some achievements that surround them worldwide.

1. Around the world, youth is defined by different age groups with the legal ages for consent varying not only by activity but also culture, (for example, 21 is the big number in the USA while here in Jamaica, 16 and 18). Therefore, in essence, youths around the world ‘grow up’ at different ages.

2. In the United States, if you are under 16 years of age you cannot work during school hours unless you have an exemption from school. If you then find work you should be employed under an award or industrial agreement where your rights are protected.

3 British common law states that youth under age seven cannot be committed for a criminal offence because they are said to lack criminal intent known as ‘mens rea’.

4. The first juvenile court was formed in Illinois in 1899.

5. The Guinness World Book of Records also recognised the world record for the youngest undergraduate, set by Michael Kearney, who started studying for an Associate of Science degree at Santa Rosa Junior College, California, USA, at the age of six years seven months.

6. Harli Jordean, eight, from Stoke Newington, London, has been running his successful website marbleking.co.uk for two years, selling tubs of the glass toys to £599 limited edition Duke of York solitaire tables — setting the world record for the youngest CEO, according to World Records Academy.

7. Though they are a few years past the TEENage era, Dustin Moskovitz and Mark Zuckerberg (both 26) are the world’s youngest billionaires after their success of their business, Facebook.

8. Lina Medina (born September 27, 1933) is the youngest confirmed mother in medical history, giving birth at the age of five years, seven months and 21 days.

9. Alia Sabur, three days before her 19th birthday, was appointed as a full-time faculty Professor at Konkuk University in Seoul, South Korea as research liaison with Stony Brook University set the world record for the youngest college professor. The child prodigy from Northport is also known for enrolling at the Stony Brook University at the tender age of 10.

10. George Atkinson, 16, from London began the Seven Summits challenge by scaling Kilimanjaro in 2005 and completed it by reaching the top of Mount Everest; he has covered 34,474m (113,103ft) in his quest — setting the new world record for the youngest climber in the world to conquer the Seven Summits.