Global Statistics
- Total estimated number of orphans who have lost one or both parents: 140 million
- Estimated number of children who have lost both parents: 15 million
- Read Show Hope’s white paper on its use of statistics about children who have been orphaned.
U.S. Foster Care Statistics
- Children currently in foster care: 437,000
- Children in foster care waiting for a family through adoption: 125,000
- A child's average length of stay in continuous foster care: 20 months
- Average age of a child in foster care: 8 years old
- Number of children adopted through the U.S. foster care system in 2018: 63,000
Intercountry Adoption Statistics
- From 1999 to 2018, a total of 275,891 children from around the world. were welcomed into families in the U.S. through intercountry adoption
- Currently, more children come home to the U.S. through intercountry adoption from China than from any other nation.
- Over the last two decades, intercountry adoption in the U.S. has decreased by 82% since its height in 2004.