In 2024, the number of missing person files in the United States equaled 533,936 cases, an increase from 2021 which had the lowest number of missing person files in the U.S. since 1990.

In 2024, there were 301,623 cases filed by the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) where the race of the reported missing person was white. In the same year, 17,097 people whose race was unknown were also reported missing in the United States. What is the NCIC? The National Crime Information Center (NCIC) is a digital database that stores crime data for the United States, so criminal justice agencies can access it. As a part of the FBI, it helps criminal justice professionals find criminals, missing people, stolen property, and terrorists. The NCIC database is broken down into 21 files. Seven files belong to stolen property and items, and 14 belong to persons, including the National Sex Offender Register, Missing Person, and Identify Theft. It works alongside federal, tribal, state, and local agencies. The NCIC’s goal is to maintain a centralized information system between local branches and offices, so information is easily accessible nationwide. Missing people in the United States A person is considered missing when they have disappeared and their location is unknown. A person who is considered missing might have left voluntarily, but that is not always the case. The number of the NCIC unidentified person files in the United States has fluctuated since 1990, and in 2022, there were slightly more NCIC missing person files for males as compared to females. Fortunately, the number of NCIC missing person files has been mostly decreasing since 1998.

While the fear of being kidnapped may persist for one’s entire life, the number of missing persons under the age of 21 was much higher than those 21 and over in the United States in 2024. In that year, there were 198,686 females under the age of 21 who were reported missing in the U.S., compared to only 63,584 females over the age of 21. Why people go missing There are many reasons why people go missing; some are kidnapped, some purposefully go missing - in order to escape abuse, for example - and some, usually children, are runaways. What persists in the imagination when thinking of missing persons, however, are kidnapping victims, usually due to extensive media coverage of child kidnappings by the media. Demographics of missing persons While the number of missing persons in the United States fluctuates, in 2021, this number was at its lowest since 1990. Additionally, while it has been observed that there is more media coverage in the United States of white missing persons, almost half of the missing persons cases in 2022 were of minorities.