Saturday, August 8, 2009

I look at these statistics and my heart aches.  Surely, God is aligning my heart with His. 

If you are at all interested in adoption, or specifically special needs adoption, I'd love to chat....

It is estimated there are between 143 million and 210 million orphans worldwide (recent UNICEF report.)

The current population of the United States is just a little over 300 million… to give you an idea of the enormity of the numbers… (The current population of Russia is 141 million)

Every day 5,760 more children become orphans

2,102,400 more children become orphans every year in Africa alone 

Every 15 seconds, another child in Africa becomes an AIDS orphan

There are an estimated 14 million AIDS orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa (a number higher than the total of every under-eighteen year old in Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Ireland combined)

This figure is estimated to reach 18 million orphans in Africa alone by 2010 (only two and a half years away)

8 out of 10 children orphaned by AIDS lives in sub-saharan Africa

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but… 

Each year 14, 505, 000 children grow up as orphans and age out of the system by age sixteen

Each day 38,493 orphans age out

Every 2.2 seconds another orphan ages out with no family to belong to and no place to call home

In Russia and the Ukraine, studies have shown that 10% – 15% of these children commit sucide before they reach age eighteen

These studies also show that 60% of the girls become prostitutes and 70% of the boys become hardened criminals 

Another Russian study reported that of the 15,000 orphans aging out of state-run institutions every year, 10% committed suicide, 5,000 were unemployed, 6,000were homeless and 3,000 were in prison within three years…

3 comments:

Annie said...

This just breaks my heart!! I have been trying to talk my RDH into another adoption. I know we can't do it right now, but maybe in a year? I should show him these statistics.

Unknown said...

Thanks for the statistics.. We got home in March with LynnMarie ChunAi. We have a mutual friend, APRIL!!!!

Unknown said...

We went to a conference by Focus on the Family called Hope for the Orphan, I think. It was about 4 years ago now. We were considering adoption and went to see if God would make His plan clear to us there. These statistics were shared there too -- as well as a lot of other encouragement that it was something we needed to more seriously consider. Thanks for the reminder of these numbers--and more importantly that each number has a life, a child, attached to it!
Kelly