In 2023, the number of missing person files in the United States equaled 563,389 cases, an increase from 2021 which had the lowest number of missing person files in the U.S. since 1990.

In 2022, there were 313,017 cases filed by the NCIC where the race of the reported missing was White. In the same year, 18,928 people were missing whose race was unknown.

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, in 2022 the number of missing persons under the age of 21 was much higher than those 21 and over, with 206,371 females under 21 reported missing, and 64,956 females over the age of 21 reported missing.

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.

Since 1952, more than 300,000 persons have been reported as missing in Mexico. About 65 percent of them have been found, either alive or dead. In 2023 alone, there were almost 30,000 reports of people missing in the North American country.

Messages sent with information about emergency events and important City services

NamUs is the only national repository for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons cases. The program provides a singular resource hub for law enforcement, medical examiners, coroners, and investigating professionals. It is the only national database for missing, unidentified, and unclaimed persons that allows limited access to the public, empowering family members to take a more proactive role in the search for their missing loved ones.

Comprehensive dataset of 1 Missing persons organizations in Hawaii, United States as of July, 2025. Includes verified contact information (email, phone), geocoded addresses, customer ratings, reviews, business categories, and operational details. Perfect for market research, lead generation, competitive analysis, and business intelligence. Download a complimentary sample to evaluate data quality and completeness.

In 2023 alone, ****** persons have been reported as missing in Mexico, a figure that implies about ** people going missing every day. The volume of these incidents soared after Felipe Calderon's government declared the war on drugs in December 2006, an event that marked a surged in violence throughout the Latin American country.

The Mississippi Repository for Missing and Unidentified Persons (MS Repository) was developed in January 2022 to help identify, resolve, and archive Mississippi’s missing and unidentified persons cases. The MS Repository, housed at Mississippi State University, serves as a statewide missing and unidentified persons clearinghouse database. The MS Repository is under the purview of the Cobb Institute of Archaeology (including the Department of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Cultures) and the MSU Police Department (MSUPD). In collaboration with law enforcement agencies throughout the state, the goals of the MS Repository are to:1. Provide a centralized location for data on missing and unidentified persons from Mississippi2. Increase missing persons public access for all Mississippians3. Visualize socioeconomic and medicolegal disparities affecting missing persons through geospatial analysis4. Partner with neighboring states to facilitate data sharing of missing and unidentified persons information.The lack of comprehensive missing and unidentified persons repository data at the state and national levels continues to hinder identifying missing and unidentified people. The MS Repository is the only secure, formalized, searchable Mississippi data repository for unidentified and missing persons information. It includes missing and unidentified persons information from the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS), law enforcement missing persons reports on social media, cases from non-profit missing persons advocacy groups, and reports from families with missing loved ones. Like NamUS, the MS Repository provides demographic information about the missing individual and case circumstances, including last seen date and location. Each profile has a built-in capacity for holding copies of medical records and DNA records results (including family reference samples). All profiles (current and resolved) are stored electronically and available in perpetuity, regardless of case status. In addition to the database, there is a searchable clearinghouse website accessible to the public (missinginms.msstate.edu).

Number of homicide victims, by Indigenous identity (total, by Indigenous identity; Indigenous identity; First Nations (North American Indian); Métis; Inuk (Inuit); Indigenous person, Indigenous group unknown; non-Indigenous identity; unknown Indigenous identity) and missing person status (total, by missing person status; missing; not missing; missing person status unknown), Canada, 2015 to 2023.

The number of people who were reported as missing in Colombia has been oscillating throughout recent years. In 2021, the South American country's authorities registered a total of 6,514 people missing, up from 4,491 people reported a year earlier.Moreover, the number of cases of interpersonal violence in Colombia has also been oscillating lately.

The number of missing person cases in Japan amounted to approximately 90.14 thousand in 2023, up from the previous fiscal year, that represented about 84.91 thousand. Boosted by the aging Japanese society, the leading cause for missing people reports was related to illnesses, with dementia accounting for around 27.8 percent of the total number of missing person cases in that year.

Analysis of ‘Missing Migrants Dataset’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/jmataya/missingmigrants on 14 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

About the Missing Migrants Data

This data is sourced from the International Organization for Migration. The data is part of a specific project called the Missing Migrants Project which tracks deaths of migrants, including refugees , who have gone missing along mixed migration routes worldwide. The research behind this project began with the October 2013 tragedies, when at least 368 individuals died in two shipwrecks near the Italian island of Lampedusa. Since then, Missing Migrants Project has developed into an important hub and advocacy source of information that media, researchers, and the general public access for the latest information.

Where is the data from?

Missing Migrants Project data are compiled from a variety of sources. Sources vary depending on the region and broadly include data from national authorities, such as Coast Guards and Medical Examiners; media reports; NGOs; and interviews with survivors of shipwrecks. In the Mediterranean region, data are relayed from relevant national authorities to IOM field missions, who then share it with the Missing Migrants Project team. Data are also obtained by IOM and other organizations that receive survivors at landing points in Italy and Greece. In other cases, media reports are used. IOM and UNHCR also regularly coordinate on such data to ensure consistency. Data on the U.S./Mexico border are compiled based on data from U.S. county medical examiners and sheriff’s offices, as well as media reports for deaths occurring on the Mexico side of the border. Estimates within Mexico and Central America are based primarily on media and year-end government reports. Data on the Bay of Bengal are drawn from reports by UNHCR and NGOs. In the Horn of Africa, data are obtained from media and NGOs. Data for other regions is drawn from a combination of sources, including media and grassroots organizations. In all regions, Missing Migrants Projectdata represents minimum estimates and are potentially lower than in actuality.

Updated data and visuals can be found here: https://missingmigrants.iom.int/

Who is included in Missing Migrants Project data?

IOM defines a migrant as any person who is moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of

  (1) the person’s legal status; 
  (2) whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary; 
  (3) what the causes for the movement are; or 
  (4) what the length of the stay is.[1]

Missing Migrants Project counts migrants who have died or gone missing at the external borders of states, or in the process of migration towards an international destination. The count excludes deaths that occur in immigration detention facilities, during deportation, or after forced return to a migrant’s homeland, as well as deaths more loosely connected with migrants’ irregular status, such as those resulting from labour exploitation. Migrants who die or go missing after they are established in a new home are also not included in the data, so deaths in refugee camps or housing are excluded. This approach is chosen because deaths that occur at physical borders and while en route represent a more clearly definable category, and inform what migration routes are most dangerous. Data and knowledge of the risks and vulnerabilities faced by migrants in destination countries, including death, should not be neglected, rather tracked as a distinct category.

How complete is the data on dead and missing migrants?

Data on fatalities during the migration process are challenging to collect for a number of reasons, most stemming from the irregular nature of migratory journeys on which deaths tend to occur. For one, deaths often occur in remote areas on routes chosen with the explicit aim of evading detection. Countless bodies are never found, and rarely do these deaths come to the attention of authorities or the media. Furthermore, when deaths occur at sea, frequently not all bodies are recovered - sometimes with hundreds missing from one shipwreck - and the precise number of missing is often unknown. In 2015, over 50 per cent of deaths recorded by the Missing Migrants Project refer to migrants who are presumed dead and whose bodies have not been found, mainly at sea.

Data are also challenging to collect as reporting on deaths is poor, and the data that does exist are highly scattered. Few official sources are collecting data systematically. Many counts of death rely on media as a source. Coverage can be spotty and incomplete. In addition, the involvement of criminal actors in incidents means there may be fear among survivors to report deaths and some deaths may be actively covered-up. The irregular immigration status of many migrants, and at times their families as well, also impedes reporting of missing persons or deaths.

The varying quality and comprehensiveness of data by region in attempting to estimate deaths globally may exaggerate the share of deaths that occur in some regions, while under-representing the share occurring in others.

What can be understood through this data?

The available data can give an indication of changing conditions and trends related to migration routes and the people travelling on them, which can be relevant for policy making and protection plans. Data can be useful to determine the relative risks of irregular migration routes. For example, Missing Migrants Project data show that despite the increase in migrant flows through the eastern Mediterranean in 2015, the central Mediterranean remained the more deadly route. In 2015, nearly two people died out of every 100 travellers (1.85%) crossing the Central route, as opposed to one out of every 1,000 that crossed from Turkey to Greece (0.095%). From the data, we can also get a sense of whether groups like women and children face additional vulnerabilities on migration routes.

However, it is important to note that because of the challenges in data collection for the missing and dead, basic demographic information on the deceased is rarely known. Often migrants in mixed migration flows do not carry appropriate identification. When bodies are found it may not be possible to identify them or to determine basic demographic information. In the data compiled by Missing Migrants Project, sex of the deceased is unknown in over 80% of cases. Region of origin has been determined for the majority of the deceased. Even this information is at times extrapolated based on available information – for instance if all survivors of a shipwreck are of one origin it was assumed those missing also came from the same region.

The Missing Migrants Project dataset includes coordinates for where incidents of death took place, which indicates where the risks to migrants may be highest. However, it should be noted that all coordinates are estimates.

Why collect data on missing and dead migrants?

By counting lives lost during migration, even if the result is only an informed estimate, we at least acknowledge the fact of these deaths. What before was vague and ill-defined is now a quantified tragedy that must be addressed. Politically, the availability of official data is important. The lack of political commitment at national and international levels to record and account for migrant deaths reflects and contributes to a lack of concern more broadly for the safety and well-being of migrants, including asylum-seekers. Further, it drives public apathy, ignorance, and the dehumanization of these groups.

Data are crucial to better understand the profiles of those who are most at risk and to tailor policies to better assist migrants and prevent loss of life. Ultimately, improved data should contribute to efforts to better understand the causes, both direct and indirect, of fatalities and their potential links to broader migration control policies and practices.

Counting and recording the dead can also be an initial step to encourage improved systems of identification of those who die. Identifying the dead is a moral imperative that respects and acknowledges those who have died. This process can also provide a some sense of closure for families who may otherwise be left without ever knowing the fate of missing loved ones.

Identification and tracing of the dead and missing

As mentioned above, the challenge remains to count the numbers of dead and also identify those counted. Globally, the majority of those who die during migration remain unidentified. Even in cases in which a body is found identification rates are low. Families may search for years or a lifetime to find conclusive news of their loved one. In the meantime, they may face psychological, practical, financial, and legal problems.

Ultimately Missing Migrants Project would like to see that every unidentified body, for which it is possible to recover, is adequately “managed”, analysed and tracked to ensure proper documentation, traceability and dignity. Common forensic protocols and standards should be agreed upon, and used within and between States. Furthermore, data relating to the dead and missing should be held in searchable and open databases at local, national and international levels to facilitate identification.

For more in-depth analysis and discussion of the numbers of missing and dead migrants around the world, and the challenges involved in identification and tracing, read our two reports on the issue, Fatal Journeys: Tracking Lives Lost during Migration (2014) and Fatal Journeys Volume 2, Identification and Tracing of Dead and Missing Migrants

Content

The data set records

Human Trafficking Statistics: Human trafficking remains a pervasive global issue, with millions of individuals subjected to exploitation and abuse each year. According to recent statistics, an estimated 25 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, with the majority being women and children. This lucrative criminal industry generates profits of over $150 billion annually, making it one of the most profitable illegal trades globally. As market research analysts, it's imperative to understand the scale and impact of human trafficking to develop effective strategies for prevention and intervention. Efforts to combat human trafficking have intensified in recent years, driven by increased awareness and advocacy. However, despite these efforts, the problem persists, with trafficking networks adapting to evade law enforcement and exploit vulnerabilities in communities. Through comprehensive data analysis and research, we can uncover trends, identify high-risk areas, and develop targeted interventions to disrupt trafficking networks and support survivors. In this context, understanding human trafficking statistics is crucial for informing policy decisions, resource allocation, and collaborative efforts to combat this grave violation of human rights. Editor’s Choice Every year, approximately 4.5 billion people become victims of forced sex trafficking. Two out of three immigrants become victims of human trafficking, regardless of their international travel method. There are 5.4 victims of modern slavery for every 1000 people worldwide. An estimated 40.3 million individuals are trapped in modern-day slavery, with 24.9 million in forced labor and 15.4 million in forced marriage. Around 16.55 million reported human trafficking cases have occurred in the Asia Pacific region. Out of 40 million human trafficking victims worldwide, 25% are children. The highest proportion of forced labor trafficking cases occurs in domestic work, accounting for 30%. The illicit earnings from human trafficking amount to approximately USD 150 billion annually. The sex trafficking industry globally exceeds the size of the worldwide cocaine market. Only 0.4% of survivors of human trafficking cases are detected. Currently, there are 49.6 million people in modern slavery worldwide, with 35% being children. Sex trafficking is the most common type of trafficking in the U.S. In 2022, there were 88 million child sexual abuse material (CSAM) files reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) tip line. Child sex trafficking has been reported in all 50 U.S. states. Human trafficking is a USD 150 billion industry globally. It ranks as the second most profitable illegal industry in the United States. 25 million people worldwide are denied their fundamental right to freedom. 30% of global human trafficking victims are children. Women constitute 49% of all victims of global trafficking. In 2019, 62% of victims in the US were identified as sex trafficking victims. In the same year, US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) grantees reported that 68% of clients served were victims of labor trafficking. Human traffickers in the US face a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison. In France, 74% of exploited victims in 2018 were victims of sex trafficking. You May Also Like To Read Domestic Violence Statistics Sexual Assault Statistics Crime Statistics FBI Crime Statistics Referral Marketing Statistics Prison Statistics GDPR Statistics Piracy Statistics Notable Ransomware Statistics DDoS Statistics Divorce Statistics

The average for 2017 based on 65 countries was 1.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Belgium: 10.3 kidnappings per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Bermuda: 0 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

This dataset contains descriptions of unidentified remains whose cases have been processed by the Medical Examiner’s Office.

Call 312-666-0500 to speak to Deputy Chief Investigator, Earl Briggs, about matching one of these unidentified bodies to the identity of a missing person. Descriptions of cases can also be found at NAMUS.gov

Please note that images posted in this section may be graphic in nature and may not be appropriate for all users.

Listing of all Markers that do not have a status of Missing. Since 1913, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has administered a program of historical markers to capture the memory of people, places, and events that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries since William Penn founded his Commonwealth. More than 2,000 bronze plaques and cast aluminum markers tell the stories of Native Americans and settlers, government and politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, struggles for freedom and equality, factories and businesses, and a multitude of other topics. This dataset includes Pennsylvania historical markers by title, dedication date, location, county, category and marker text.

Since 2014, at least 9,787 persons have lost their lives or gone missing in the Americas trying to migrate. The figures are presumed to be considerably higher since, as the source warns, collecting this sort of data is particularly challenging, especially in Mexico, the Darien Gap, and maritime routes. 2022 has been the deadliest year to date, since more than one thousand migrants have been reported as dead or missing. The U.S.-Mexico border crossing is the migration route in the Americas with most reported deaths or missing since 2014.

In 2022, the number of unidentified missing person files listed by the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) in the United States increased slightly when compared to the previous year, with 902 cases. In 2021, this figure was 892.

Characteristics of police violence fatalities, 2013–2019.