Here are two – very different – estimates for the number of orphans worldwide. UNICEF estimates the number of orphans at approximately 210 million. On the other hand, TheWeekly.com estimates approx. 13 million. As a compromise, let’s proceed with an estimate of 100 million orphans worldwide.
We have seen that the percentage of such children who are in orphanages varies greatly – from 25% in Russia, to about 17% in the US to as little as a fraction of a percent in Uganda. Since a weighted average approach would yield something that is much closer to third world standards (because the vast majority of orphans are found in the third world), we can safely assume the percentage we are seeking is in the low single digits.
This means that there are anywhere from two to five million orphans in orphanages worldwide, an estimate that is inline with the HRW world report. source: UNICEF and HRW.
The vast majority of orphans are found in the third world.. |
| USAID.GOV: The total number of orphans worldwide is projected to reach 44 million by 2010
An article from October 10 2002 in the Weekly provides the following statistics:
“...The number of orphans worldwide is estimated at more than 13 million...”
source: TheWeekly.com
In Russia, however, about 25% of children left without parental care are estimated to be living in institutions –“Official,stock-type information from Russia shows that the number of children left without parental care rose from
421,000 to 533,000 between 1989 and 1995 and to 637,000 by 1999. These figures suggest a huge 1.5-fold increase over the last 10 years. In each year, about a quarter of these children were living in institutions.” source: broken source link
According to McLaughlin writing in USA Today - “...the percentage of kids in institutions dropped from 57.8% in 1933 to 31% in 1962 and 17.1% in 1989...” (this is, of course, the percentage of kids not living with their organic family).
A report from the WorldBank provides some statistics for the percent of children in orphanages in 3rd world countries – Rwanda – 5,000 of 400,000 orphans living in orphanages.
Uganda – 1,300 of 1,700,000 orphans living in orphanages
This is because the cost to run an orphanage in the third world is an order of magnitude or two higher than the foster care option - “Cost comparisons conducted in Uganda show the ratio of operating costs for an orphanage to be 14 times higher than those for community care. A 1992 study by the World Bank found that institutional care at one facility in Tanzania cost $1,000 per year per child, a figure six times more expensive than the average cost of foster care in that
country. Other studies have found a ratio of 1:20, or even up to 1:100.” -source: UNICEF
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