Child Adoption Statistics around the World

International adoption has become more and more popular for families who are seeking to adopt. The child adoption statistics from around the world reflect several interesting trends over the last several years.

Interestingly enough, it seems that child adoption from countries around the world is more common in some places than in others. For example, New York has about 2/3 the population of California, yet it has around 15% more international adoptions. These statistics reflect how different regions around the United States have different practices.

First, more than 250,000 children have been adopted internationally from the United States in the last thirty years. Even more telling is the fact that the average number of adoptions per year has actually doubled in the last decade or so. This statistic suggests that there is growing interest in and education about international adoption, and that some countries are making international adoption easier.

Another telling factor in adoption statistics around the world is that, in terms of international adoptions, girls outnumber boys 64% to 36%. Gender is, obviously, a factor when it comes to adoption around the world. Another interesting statistic regarding child adoption around the world is that children from China make up more than 25% of the U.S. international adoptions. All in all, somewhere around 5,000 children are adopted from China each year. By far, these Chinese children tend also to be girls. This happens for both cultural, as well as legal reasons.

Today, China and Russia are the countries from which most U.S. international adoptions take place. This adoption statistic has changed in the last twenty years. It used to be that countries like South Korea and South Vietnam outnumbered other countries, as these children were often the children of soldiers with people native to those countries.

A staggering statistic regarding child adoption around the world is that somewhere around 1.5 million children that are living in Central and Eastern Europe live in out-of-home care, such as orphanages and foster care. Even with the number of U.S. international adoptions, that number of children without parental care continues to grow at an alarming rate. This would seem to be the place where there is the most need for child adoption around the world.
