Obtaining an accurate picture of the missing children problem is extremely difficult. The main problem stems from the definition of what constitutes a 'missing' child. Missing is a term widely used by law enforcement agencies to cover many different circumstances. A child can be missing as the result of a simple misunderstanding; a child can ran away from home to avoid abuse; it can be abducted by a parent who does not like a custody decision; or it can be abducted by a stranger or even kidnaped for ransom. Whatever the circumstances, these incidents will be counted as a missing children.

In an effort to define the missing child problem, the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Throwaway Children, known as NISMART, initiated a massive research project in 1988 in the USA. Since then, the Department of Justice has regularly published detailed statistics about the number of children who go missing. The latest national estimates for the number of missing children in the USA are found in the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART-2), released in October 2002. According to NISMART-2, an estimated
 

• 800,000 children younger than 18 are missing each year, or an average of 2,000 children reported missing each day.
• 200,000 children were were abducted by family members.
• 58,000 children were abducted by nonfamily members, and
• 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know, or knows only slightly, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently

For the past five years, PACT has been campaigning for this quality of information in the UK.

In the UK, where until today there has been no clear separation between adults and children in the data collection, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has defined a missing person as: “anyone whose whereabouts is unknown whatever the circumstances of disappearance. They will be considered missing until located and their well-being or otherwise established”. (ACPO, 2005: 8). For more information, please visit our Associate's site.

More information on the various research conducted to date in the UK can be found on the Missing People's website.

But, thanks to our and our partners' constant lobbying, a Code of Practice on the collection of missing persons’ data finally came into effect on 1 April 2009. This means that it is now a statutory requirement for all police forces in the United Kingdom to forward data on missing and unidentified persons, bodies and body parts to the Police Missing Persons Bureau.  Since police forces still use different IT systems, the compliance dates have been set as follows:

• 1st April 2009 - for forces using the COMPACT case management system;
• 1st September 2009 - for forces using other IT systems;
• 1st April 2010 - for forces with no IT system for missing persons.

Reasons children became missing in USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Episode Type	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	Rate per 1,000 children in the US population (Total no. children = 70,172,700)
Non-family abduction§	33,000	(2,000-64,000)	3	0.47
Family abduction	117,200	(79,000-155,400)	9	1.67
Runaway/Thrownaway	628,900	(481,000-776,900)	48	8.96
Missing involuntary, lost or injured	198,300	(124,800-271,800)	15	2.83
Missing, benign explanation	374,700	(289,900-459,500)	28	5.34
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. § includes stereotypical kidnapping. Note sample size is very small, so results may be unreliable. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates

• Of these, 797,500 were reported as missing to the police or other agencies for help in locating them.

Reasons children became missing in USA - Reported Missing Children (Total No. reported: 797,500) Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Episode Type	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	Rate per 1,000 children in the US population (Total no. children = 70,172,700)
Non-family abduction§	12,100	(<100-31,000)	2	0.17
Family abduction	56,500	(22,600-90,400)	7	0.81
Runaway/Thrownaway	357,600	(238,000-477,200)	45	5.10
Missing involuntary, lost or injured	61,900	(19,700-104,100)	8	0.88
Missing, benign explanation	340,500	(256,000-425,000)	43	4.85
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. § includes stereotypical kidnapping. Note sample size is very small, so results may be unreliable. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates

• Ages of missing children.

Ages of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Age	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
0-5	96,500	(48,400-144,700)	12	(7-17)	33
6-11	113,400	(61,500-165,300)	14	(8-20)	34
12-14	235,500	(161,300-309,700)	30	(19-40)	17
15-17	349,300	(235,600-444,900)	44	(35-53)	17
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges.

• Gender of children reported missing in the USA.

Gender of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Gender	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
Male	409,400	(290,400-528,400)	51	(42-61)	51
Female	388,000	(296,900-479,200)	49	(39-58)	49
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges.

• Race/Ethnicity of children reported missing in the USA.

Race/Ethnicity of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Race/ Ethnicity	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
White, non-Hispanic	428,800	(331,500-526,100)	54	(46-62)	65
Black, non-Hispanic	149,700	(90,100-209,400)	19	(12-26)	15
Hispanic	163,900	(88,900-238,900)	21	(13-29)	16
Other	52,100	(19,000-85,200)	7	(3-10)	5
No infomation	3,000§	(<100-6,900)	<1§	(<1-1)	-
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges. § Estimate based on too few sample cases to be reliable.

Extent of the Problem