For every six orphans awaiting adoption in Russia, there is only one family in the country hoping to take in a child, government statistics show.
More than 100,000 orphans are listed in a registry maintained by the Education and Science Ministry, the head of its child protection department, Yevgeny Silyanov said, Interfax reported.
Meanwhile, the number of prospective parents searching for an adopted child is about 18,000, he said.
"These are the people who are actively searching for a child today," Silyanov added.
Officials estimated last month that the number of domestic adoptions may reach 15,000 by the end of the year — a nearly two-fold increase from 2012 apparently driven by financial incentives for adoption approved by the government in February.
Since Russia banned U.S. adoptions of Russian orphans a year ago, many of the children who had been slated to receive a home in the U.S. have remained in orphanages.
A recent poll commissioned by the Foundation for Supporting Children in Difficult Situations indicated that only about 16 percent of Russians would consider adopting a child, with many respondents reserving the possibility for an unspecified time in the future.
While many Russians believe that growing up in an adoptive family is better than in an orphanage, 82 percent of respondents said they would never adopt a child, the poll indicated.
