Adoptions, 2003

For the fourth consecutive year China was the main 'supplier' country with 280 adopted children. In comparison, 103 children were adopted from Colombia and 69 from South Korea. South Korea had the sharpest fall in adoptions. Other countries with a relatively large number of adoptions were Ethiopia with 40, India with 28 and Brazil with 27 adoptions.

Only 17 children were adopted from the Philippines, compared with 40 in 2002. The number of children adopted from European countries remained stable at 46. Only three countries had an increase in adoptions and Russia had the highest increase, from 10 in 2002 to 23 in 2003.

Adoptions of stepchildren stable

The number of adopted stepchildren remained more or less unchanged compared with 2001 and 2002. Out of 160 adopted stepchildren, 152 had Norwegian citizenship. In this group, 112 children were 12 years or older while 38 were under 12 years of age. There were almost twice as many girls as boys among the adopted stepchildren. 56 children were adopted by others than their stepmother or stepfather.

Most adoptions in Oslo and Akershus

In absolute figures, Oslo and Akershus had the highest number of adoptions with 112 and 119 adoptions respectively. If we look at the population in the age group 25-44 years, the national average was 0.66 adoptions per 1 000 inhabitants. The counties of Østfold (0.86), Akershus (0.83) and Oslo (0.79) had the highest number of adoptions per 1 000 inhabitants, while Finnmark has the lowest number (0.47).

Sex and age stable

A total of 563 girls and 307 boys were adopted last year. As in previous years, nearly all the children adopted from China were girls (267 girls and 13 boys). There was also a majority of girls from India, while there is majority of boys from Colombia and South Korea. In Europe, the percentage of boys was highest for children adopted from Russia, 15 of a total of 23 adoptions.

In line with Sweden

If we compare Norway with Sweden the absolute number of adoptions is almost the same. But if we look at individual supplier countries, the number of children adopted from South Korea was 583 higher for Norway in the period 1997-2002. On the other hand, Sweden adopted 200 more children from India. In Finland, about 200 children are adopted from abroad every year.

Who can adopt?

See the Adoption Act of 28 February 1986:

http://www.lovdata.no/all/nl-19860228-008.html

Tables:

• Table 1 Adoptions, by the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child before adoption, and by the child's previous citizenship. 1966-2003
• Table 2 Adoptions, by the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child before adoption and county
• Table 3 Adoptions, by the relationship of the adoptive parents to the child before adoption, and by the child's previous citizenship, sex and age. 2003
• Table 4 Adoptions, by the child's sex, age and previous citizenship. 2003
• Table 5 Adoptions, by the child's previous citizenship. Both sexes. 1997-2003