ELSTAT: 378 adoption acts in 2025 — up 25.6%
The new release covers court decisions throughout 2025 and includes adult adoptions. It is not a count of children leaving institutions.
Adoption acts reached 378 in 2025, compared with 301 in 2024, according to ELSTAT’s release published on 3 November 2026. This is an increase of 25.6%, or 77 acts.
The reference period is January–December 2025. The statistics record court decisions nationwide, rather than applications submitted today or the number of pending cases.
Adults are included
The largest age group is 0–5, with 144 acts or 38.1%. There were 65 acts for ages 6–10, 56 for ages 11–18 and 113 for people aged 19 and over. The total therefore cannot be described as 378 minor children.
By adoptive-parent category, 221 acts concern married adoptive parents, 45 single-parent families and 112 cases where the adoptive parent is the spouse of a biological parent.
Geography and measurement limits
The table records 199 acts in Attica, 85 in Northern Greece, 38 in Central Greece and 33 in the Aegean Islands and Crete. These total 355; another 23 through International Social Service complete the overall total.
ELSTAT’s methodological notes describe census data from the National Adoption Register of the National Centre for Social Solidarity. These are recorded acts: on their own they do not measure waiting times, rejected applications or how many minors left care institutions. The rise in the total is insufficient to conclude that every stage of the process became faster.
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