The British army has been 'glamorizing war' and targeting children to boost its decline in army recruitment, a new report reveals.

The report published by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust on Monday said that recruits were not told the full truth about military life and were therefore unable to make informed choices, DPA reported.

It also added that many young recruits left when they discovered the reality of life in the military.

"I think young people are particularly vulnerable to the pressures of an Armed Forces career,” said David Gee the author of the report.

He said that young people can't know what they'll want at age 20 when they're 16.

The report said that in 2007, a survey found that 48 percent of all soldiers found army life to be worse than expected, with only 20 percent thinking it was better.

It recommended sweeping changes to the armed forces recruitment policies including getting rid of recruitment of minors and new rights for those who have been already recruited and want to leave the service.

However, a spokeswoman for the British Ministry of Defense (MoD) described many parts of the report as 'out of date, incorrect and ill-informed'.

SM/DT