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The number of adoptions in Korea fell for the third consecutive year in 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, government data showed Wednesday.
According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number adoption reached 415 last year, down from 704 in 2019 and 492 in 2020. Officials attributed the decrease in adoption to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
Among the adoptions, 189, or 45.5 percent, were by overseas families ― 66.7 percent from the United States, while others were from Canada, Sweden and Australia.
Of the children moving overseas, 70.4 percent were boys under the age of three.
According to the data, 99.5 percent of the children adopted by foreign families were from unmarried single parents. The rate stood at 73.9 percent for those adopted by families in Korea. (Yonhap)
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