Statistics You Need to Hear

I heard there is a book out called "Death by Suburbia" - and if that's true then I want to read it. From what I understand, the premise of the book is that Americans living in suburbia become so insulated from real life the become desensitized to everything that matters. I pulled these statistics off a Google search; maybe they will shake us out of our stupor:

The following is from hfgf.org:
Every 15 SECONDS, another child becomes an AIDS orphan in Africa

Every DAY 5,760 more children become orphans.

Every YEAR 2,102,400 more children become orphans (in Africa alone)

143,000,0002 orphans in the world today spend an average of 10 years3 in an orphanage or foster home .

Approximately 250,000 children are adopted annually, but…Every YEAR 14,050,000 children still grow up as orphans and AGE OUT4 of the system.

Every DAY 38,493 children AGE OUT.

Every 2.2 SECONDS, another orphan child AGES OUT with no family to belong to and no place to call home .

In Ukraine and Russia 10% -15% of children who age out of an orphanage commit suicide before age 18.

60% of the girls are lured into prostitution.

70% of the boys become hardened criminals.

Many of these children accept job offers that ultimately result in their being sold as slaves. Millions of girls are sex slaves today, simply because they were unfortunate enough to grow up as orphans.

Reliable statistics are difficult to find, even the sources often list only estimates, and street children are rarely included. But even if these figures are exaggerated by double, it is still an unacceptable tragedy that over a Million children would still become orphans every year, and every year 7 Million children would still grow to adulthood as orphans with no one to belong to and no place to call home. They are totally vulnerable and easily fall prey to predators and slave recruiters.

1. http://www.habitatforhumanity.org.uk/current_appeal.htm
2. According to figures from the United Nations. These statistics include children in the American Foster Care system
3. This is an estimate. Infants may stay as long as 18 years while children who become orphans at an older age stay a shorter time.
4. To AGE OUT means to grow to the age where a child is forced to leave the orphanage or foster home with no place to call home.
5. http://www.hopefororphansoftheworld.org/default.aspx?id=30Courtesy of the Home For Good Foundation www.hfgf.org