Some 5,000 to 8,000 child-care institutions in Indonesia are currently caring for 1.4 million children.
More than 99 per cent of these institutions are run by the private sector, mostly religious organisations.
Researchers surveying 36 institutions in six provinces found about 90 per cent of the children still had one or both parents living, and only 6 per cent were actually orphans.
The majority of the children came from poor families which had sent them to the institutions for food and education.
Some 35,000 children were estimated to have been orphaned or separated from their parents in Aceh by the 2005 tsunami disaster.