Trends in International Adoption: 2003

(The number of international adoptions in the U.S. in any given year is estimated from the number of orphan visas issued, as reported by the State Department, and the yearly totals are posted on their Web site.)

Final numbers for fiscal year 2003 (ending September 30, 2003) show an increase of 1517 visas issued - from 20,099 in 2002 to 21,616 in 2003 - an increase of 7.55%, as compared with the 4.79% increase last year. (At this time, the last full year's report published by the State Department is fiscal year 2003.)

Changes in the top 10 can be seen in this table:

Country	2002	2003	Change
China	5,053	6,859	+35.7%
Russia	4,939	5,209	+5.5%
Guatemala	2,219	2,328	+4.9%
S. Korea	1,779	1,790	+0.6%
Kazakhstan	819	825	-0.72%
Ukraine	1,106	702	-36.53%
India	466	472	-14.18%
Vietnam	766	382	-50.13%
Colombia	334	272	-18.56%
Haiti	187	250	+33.69%

The Top 20

FY 2003
1	6,859.....CHINA (Mainland)
2	5,209.....RUSSIA
3	2,328.....GUATEMALA
4	1,790.....SOUTH KOREA
6	825........KAZAKHSTAN
5	702........UKRAINE
7	472........INDIA
8	382........VIETNAM
9	272........COLOMBIA
10	250......HAITI
11	214......PHILIPPINES
12	200......ROMANIA
13	198......BULGARIA
14	191......BELARUS
15	135......ETHIOPIA
16	124......CAMBODIA
17	97.......POLAND
18	72.......THAILAND
19	62.......AZERBAIJAN
20	61.......MEXICO
TOTAL for Top 20 Countries.......... 20,443 TOTAL World Wide.................... 21,616

Source: U.S. Department of State