Adoption of orphans on downward trend

The number of orphans adopted in China has been falling since 2010, according to an annual report from the top civil affairs authority on Tuesday.

In 2013, of the 550,000 orphans living in China, 17 percent were supported by welfare agencies. Only 24,460 families adopted children, 3,230 of which were from foreign countries, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. The number of families who adopted orphans was down 10.4 percent year-on-year.

In 2010, the number of families adopting orphans dropped by 22.3 percent from 2009, the largest decline in eight years. In each of the past four years, the figure has declined by around 10 percent.