Did you know?

• SOS opened its 500th Children's Village in 2009! Since 1949, more than 80,000 children have grown up in SOS Children's Villages all around the world.
  
  
• More than one million children, youths and families are supported through 1,900 SOS facilities and programs. A variety of long-term social support programs have been developed to prevent disadvantaged and vulnerable families from breaking up.
  
  
• SOS Children's Villages has approximately 30,000 employees in 132 countries and territories around the world and almost exclusively employs local staff.
  
  
• India, with its 39 SOS Children's Villages and numerous social facilities and programs, has the highest number of SOS projects worldwide.
  
  
• The SOS Children's Village at the highest altitude is located in El Alto, Bolivia.  It rises 4,200 meters above sea level.
  
  
• The most southern SOS Children's Village is located on the Chilean island of Chiloé, while the most northern SOS Children's Village can be found in Kandalaksha at the White Sea in Russia.
  
  
• There are nine SOS Children's Villages for Tibetan children, eight of them situated in Northern India and one in Pokhara in Nepal.
  
  
• The world's biggest SOS Children's Village with over 2,400 children is located in Leh-Ladakh; another 2,200 children live in the 45 family houses of SOS Children's Village Dharamsala.
  
• Since 1988, we have initiated 100 emergency programs for children and families in need as a consequence of disasters, war and conflict situations. Our largest aid and reconstruction program was launched at the end of 2004, after the Tsunami disaster, and included India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
  
  
• The SOS Clinic in Mogadishu/Somalia is the most frequently used SOS facility with approximately 300,000 treatments per year. With only short interruptions, the clinic that is supported by ECHO (European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office) has been able to keep operating even in the most difficult war situations and despite repeated assaults.
  
  
• SOS Children's Villages has established national, regional and international networks in support of children's rights, child protection and other specific projects. We cooperate with various NGOs and governmental organizations that raise awareness of the need to improve the living conditions of children.
  
  
• We rely on SOS child and village sponsors to feed, clothe, educate, and care for SOS children.  Learn about becoming an SOS child or village sponsor today.