World Orphans Day Date in the current year: November 11, 2024

In common usage, an orphan is a child who has lost both parents. However, some organizations, including UNICEF and UNAIDS, label children who have lost one parents as orphans, too. The number of double orphans, i.e. those who have lost both parents, is relatively low in developed countries; the highest numbers of orphans exist in countries affected by extreme poverty, wars, and epidemics. Regions with the highest percentage of orphans are Africa (almost 12% of all children), Latin America & the Caribbean (about 7.5% of all children), and Asia (6.5% of all children).

According to statistics, every 19 seconds somewhere in the world, a child is orphaned, and 99% of orphans are never adopted. Most countries with high numbers of orphans usually don’t have a good system in place to support all orphaned children. Thousands of orphans across the globe live as street children devoid of parental care and vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Orphans raised in orphanages often struggle to adjust to adult life once released from the orphanage because they lack education, resources, and skills to support themselves. As a result, many of them become homeless and commit crimes to survive, or even end up committing suicide.

Since governments of poor countries devastated by wars and epidemics are unable to provide orphans with proper care, international organizations have to step in. There are a lot of organizations and programs supporting orphans worldwide. Two of them have established a World Orphans Day.

World Orphans Day celebrated on April 20 was founded by Worldwide Organization for Charity (WOC), previously known as World Orphan Center. The organization is working to support orphans, underprivileged children and widows with the ultimate goal of making them self-reliant through various support schemes, ranging from coverage of living expenses to adoption.

World Orphans Day celebrated on the second Monday of November was launched in 2006 by the Stars Foundation, a Nashville-based organization comprised of the entertainment industry, dignitaries, and media and sports personalities that seeks to raise money to help orphans, children in foster care, street children, and other vulnerable children.

Both World Orphans Days aim to raise awareness about orphans worldwide and encourage people to support orphans any way they can. Of course, giving an orphan a new loving family is the best way to change their life for the better, but we realize that adoption isn’t for everyone. There are a lot of other ways to help orphans: you can donate to an organization that supports orphans, volunteer at an orphanage, organize an awareness event in your community, and spread the word on social media with the hashtag #WorldOrphansDay.