140,000,000 Children
The number of orphans worldwide varies depending on the source. It ranges from 60,000,000 to 163,000,000. Most commonly agreed, the number is closest to 140,000,000. Regardless, the number is large – quite large.
To understand what that number means, an orphan is most commonly defined as a child who has lost one or both of their parents. That means that children who have both living parents, but are living on the streets, in orphanages, or in other similar, less than thriving environments are not part of this large number. It’s also important to understand that approximately 95% of orphans are age five or older and the majority of these children are not legally “adoptable.”
With this information, there is still an astronomical number of children waiting to be adopted - domestically and internationally - and new children being born into these situations daily and/or continuing the cycle from generation to generation. There is also much to be done for the children who remain in institutions worldwide deemed legally “unadoptable.”