Last updated on August 18th, 2015 at 12:16 pm

The number of children adopted in the UK is on the decline according to the National Statistics Office which has published its figures for adoption in England and Wales for the year ending 2010.

The figures show a drop of 4% on the previous year, with 4,472 children being adopted. They also show that 58% of the children were aged between one and four years old. This percentage is a significant increase and continues the trend in the decline in the adoption of older children over the last decade.

80% of the children adopted in 2010 were from unmarried parents and the number or boys and girls adopted remains about equal.

The numbers are significantly less than the 1970s for example when numbers reached a watershed of 22,500 in 1974, although this had fallen to 10,870 by 1979.