Some 10 percent of products for children sold in markets failed to meet standards, a watchdog said on Wednesday ahead of Children's Day which falls on Saturday.

The inspection, conducted by General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine between March and May, covered 674 batches of five types of children's products - clothes, shoes, baby strollers, toys and paper diapers - manufactured by 663 enterprises.

The results showed 72 of the batches failed to meet standards.

About 10 percent of children's clothes failed to meet national standards. Problems include excessive levels of formaldehyde and substandard materials.

About 94 percent of toys met the standards, an increase of 17 percentage points compared to nine years ago, said Wei Chuanzhong, deputy head of the administration. There are more than 8,000 toy manufacturers in China.