YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, NOYAN TAPAN. In 2005, 148 people willing to adopt children were registered by a centralized order at RA Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, 47 out of which are foreign citizens. As Noyan Tapan correspondent was informed by Lena Hayrapetian, Head of Ministry's Family, Women and Children Problems Department, about 80% of foreign citizens willing to adopt children are Armenians by nationality. Last year 113 children subject to adoption were registered by a centralized order, 43 out of which were adopted by RA citizens, 17 by foreign citizens. L.Hayrapetian noted that mainly 1-5-year-old children are adopted. According to her, mainly boys were adopted during the previous years, whereas cases of adoption of girls prevailed last year. It was also mentioned that 8 state and 5 charity orphanages operate in the country at present, where 935 and 250 children are nursed, respectively.

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