There were 301 adoptions in the country last year, compared to 284 in 2023, an increase of 6%. Female adoptions totaled 129 and male adoptions totaled 133, a decrease of 10.4% and 5% respectively compared to 2023, and there are 39 cases of adoptions in which gender information is missing.

According to the ELSTAT survey, adoptive parents, for the most part, are two spouses. In 2024 compared to 2023, this category recorded an 8.8% decrease (from 204 to 186) in adoption acts. An increase of 121.4% (from 14 to 31) was observed in adoptions from single-parent families with a foster parent mother. Strangely enough, though, again in 39 adoptions, information on the category of adoptive parents was missing.

Regarding the legal status of adopted children prior to adoption, the largest category is children born out of wedlock. Comparing these data between 2023 and 2024, there was a 33.3% decrease (from 6 to 4) in the number of adoption acts in which the legal status of the adoptees was not declared (unreported). Once again, surprisingly, 2024 there are also the same 39 cases in which this information is missing. No explanation has been provided about this irregularity.

Regarding the age of the adoptees, in 2024 the majority (49.6%) of adoption acts concerned children in the age group 0- 5 years old. There was an increase in the number of adoption acts to children in the age group ≥19 years (45.3%), while there was a decrease (13.5%) in adoptions of children in the age group 11- 18 years.