A retrospective study of children admitted to a south Indian hospital during an 11 year period showed that 70% of the renal diseases encountered in children in this region are of types which have a good prognosis. Post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis was the most common. The relative prevalence of steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome and different histological types of idiopathic nephrotic syndrome was similar to that in developed Western countries. Haemolytic-uraemic syndrome complicating bacillary dysentery was the most common cause of acute renal failure.