More children are being adopted from Europe

Last year altogether 814 children were adopted in Norway. Five hundred and forty two were foreign nationals, while 272 were Norwegian. In the 1990s there has been a steady rise in the number of children adopted from other countries in Europe. In 1991 they made up nearly three per cent of all foreign adoptees. Last year the percentage rose to 16 per cent.

Of the 85 European children adopted in 1997, 32 came from Romania, 26 from Russia, 17 from Hungary and 10 from other European countries.

The ratio between Norwegian-adopted and foreign-adopted children has been stable in the 1990s. Of the 272 Norwegian adoptions, 75 per cent were stepchild adoptions, while 67 Norwegian children were adopted by non-stepparents.

Of all of the foreign-adopted children in 1997, 44 per cent came from Asia, 29 per cent from South America, 16 per cent from Africa and almost one per cent from North and South America. The distribution among countries and regions of the world varies over time. In the past four years most children have come from Asia, while in the early 1990 most came from South America. The percentage of children from Africa increased significantly between 1996 and 1997, from three per cent to 10 per cent. Fifty of the 52 children adopted from Africa in 1997 were from Ethiopia.

New Statistics
Population Statistics. Adopted persons, 1997.
Statistics are published annually in the Weekly Bulletin of Statistics. For more information, contact: tove.bergseteren@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 52 82, or ellen.mette.nielsen@ssb.no, tel. +47 62 88 52 84.

Weekly Bulletin issue no. 36, 1998