Number of Orphans Worldwide

Approximately 150 million with the bulk of orphans being in developing and third world nations. This number is an estimate based upon government figures that utilize databases for their orphan children and estimates of AIDS’ agencies working in countries that do not have databases or infrastructure to support orphans. The true number of orphans is unknown, and there are varying definitions of what an “orphan” is. There is currently a movement to change the term “orphan” to children without parental care, because whether both parents are dead, missing, in prison or simply unable to care for their child or children, the end result is the same. That child will have all the attributes of an orphan who has no living parent. Another issue is that even reporting countries are often embarrassed about the number of orphans they have and the lack of care or programs for those orphans, so they only count orphans who have lost both parents due to death. This change would force countries that have signed on to the children’s bill of rights to give a more accurate accounting of their orphans.