One girl in six hits puberty by age of eight

One in six girls in Britain is reaching puberty by the age of eight, according to new research which could change the way we think about sex and childhood. This contrasts with a figure of one in 100 a generation ago. The research, which tracked the development of 14,000 children from birth, also found that one in 14 eight-year-old boys had pubic hair, an early indicator of puberty, compared with one in 150 boys of their father's generation.

source: Article 'One girl in six hits puberty by age of eight' by Amelia Hill; The Observer; 18 June 2000