¡¡¡¡HARARE, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) said on Saturday the increase in the population of street children worldwide is due to high HIV/AIDS mortality rate among their parents.

¡¡¡¡"The loss of one or both parents dramatically changes adolescents' lives, forcing them to become heads of households or move to the streets," the UNFPA said in its State of the World Population 2003 report.

¡¡¡¡The UN agency said the situation was worsened by poverty and political and ethnic conflicts.

¡¡¡¡"Children may also be driven into the streets by extreme poverty, violence or abuse in the family," said UNFPA. Other causes were escaping physical or mental abuse, failure at school and lack of opportunity."

¡¡¡¡Globally, estimates of street children vary from 100 million to250 million, and their numbers are increasing rapidly with more younger children on the streets than before," said the UNFPA.

¡¡¡¡The UNFPA said girls were less visible on the streets, possiblybecause authorities were picking up girls more rapidly or were confined and exploited.

¡¡¡¡These homeless young people were often malnourished with poor health and addicted to drugs.

¡¡¡¡Their lack of security was making them susceptible to sexual abuse and HIV/AIDS infections.

¡¡¡¡The report said AIDS had so far orphaned at least 13 million children under 15 years. This number is forecast to more than double by 2010.

¡¡¡¡The report said about two percent of children in developing countries were orphans before the onset of AIDS. Today more than 15 percent of children under 15 have been orphaned in 10 sub-Saharan African countries. Enditem