World Orphanage Statistics
By Eric Gondwe (a Bethel Orphanage volunteer) 2001 Total Numbers:
65 million in Asia out of 993 million children
34 million orphans in Sub-Saharan Africa out of 288 million children
8 million in Latin America and the Caribbean out of 162 million children (UNICEF, UNAIDS et al, Children on the Brink 2002).
2001 Percentage figures:
12% of all children in Sub-Saharan Africa were orphans,
6.5% in Asia were orphans
5% in Latin America and the Caribbean
Major causes include poverty, disease, war, famine and HIV/AIDS.
By 2001 parents dying of AIDS in sub-Sahara Africa were the single leading cause of orphans, accounting for 32% of all orphans
If not for AIDS, the number of orphans would be decreasing in Sub-Saharan Africa. Orphans from HIV/AIDS causes grew from 3.5% in 1990 to 32 %in 2001.
AIDS caused orphans will rise to nearly 50% by 2010 when it is estimated that the total number of orphans in the region will be 42 million. (Children on the Brink 2002).
AIDS caused orphans are already at least 50% in nations hard hit by AIDS in Southern Africa, like Zambia and South Africa. (ibid).
Zambia has one of the highest percentage levels of HIV/AIDS infections in the world.
Its AIDS prevalence (infection) rate exceeds 20% of the total population. By 2010 life expectancy is projected to drop below 35 years in the absence of antiretroviral treatment. (UNAIDS, UNICEF, et al: 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic).
US$12 billion a year would be needed worldwide to combat HIV/AIDS and its effects (including orphan support).
Current annual global spending is less than half of the US$ 12 billion needed by 2005, and less than one-quarter of the US$19 billion needed in 2007. (UNAIDS, UNICEF et al: 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic).
Poor nations lack the financial resources of developed nations. They thus require their assistance, on national, institutional and individual levels.
E.g. Zambia has a GDP - per capita income of $800 (2003 est.) while UK is at $27,700 and Australia at $28,900 (CIA World Factbook, 2004).
The government spends 30% more on servicing its foreign debt than on health. In 2000, the proportion of government total revenue absorbed by debt was 20%; this was expected to rise to 32% in 2004. (UNAIDS, UNICEF et al: 2004 Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic). | 
