There were approximately ***** child abduction offences recorded by the police in England and Wales in 2023/24, an increase when compared with the previous year.

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.

The abduction of people is a recurring security problem in Mexico. In 2023, a total of *** cases of kidnapping were registered in the country, down from *** cases reported a year earlier. The number of kidnappings in the Latin American country remained steady around ***** cases per year before 2020.

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.

This dataset reflects reported incidents of crime (with the exception of murders where data exists for each victim) that have occurred in the City of Chicago over the past year, minus the most recent seven days of data. Data is extracted from the Chicago Police Department's CLEAR (Citizen Law Enforcement Analysis and Reporting) system. In order to protect the privacy of crime victims, addresses are shown at the block level only and specific locations are not identified. Should you have questions about this dataset, you may contact the Research & Development Division of the Chicago Police Department at 312.745.6071 or RandD@chicagopolice.org. Disclaimer: These crimes may be based upon preliminary information supplied to the Police Department by the reporting parties that have not been verified. The preliminary crime classifications may be changed at a later date based upon additional investigation and there is always the possibility of mechanical or human error. Therefore, the Chicago Police Department does not guarantee (either expressed or implied) the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of the information and the information should not be used for comparison purposes over time. The Chicago Police Department will not be responsible for any error or omission, or for the use of, or the results obtained from the use of this information. All data visualizations on maps should be considered approximate and attempts to derive specific addresses are strictly prohibited.

The Chicago Police Department is not responsible for the content of any off-site pages that are referenced by or that reference this web page other than an official City of Chicago or Chicago Police Department web page. The user specifically acknowledges that the Chicago Police Department is not responsible for any defamatory, offensive, misleading, or illegal conduct of other users, links, or third parties and that the risk of injury from the foregoing rests entirely with the user. The unauthorized use of the words "Chicago Police Department," "Chicago Police," or any colorable imitation of these words or the unauthorized use of the Chicago Police Department logo is unlawful. This web page does not, in any way, authorize such use. Data is updated daily Tuesday through Sunday. The dataset contains more than 65,000 records/rows of data and cannot be viewed in full in Microsoft Excel. Therefore, when downloading the file, select CSV from the Export menu. Open the file in an ASCII text editor, such as Wordpad, to view and search. To access a list of Chicago Police Department - Illinois Uniform Crime Reporting (IUCR) codes, go to http://bit.ly/rk5Tpc.

The National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children (NISMART) were undertaken in response to the mandate of the 1984 Missing Children's Assistance Act (Pub.L. 98-473) that requires the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) to conduct periodic national incidence studies to determine the actual number of children reported missing and the number of missing children who are recovered for a given year. The first such study, NISMART-1 (NATIONAL INCIDENCE STUDIES OF MISSING, ABDUCTED, RUNAWAY, AND THROWNAWAY CHILDREN (NISMART), 1988 [ICPSR 9682]), was conducted from 1988 to 1989 and addressed this mandate by defining major types of missing child episodes and estimating the number of children who experienced missing child episodes of each type in 1988. At that time, the lack of a standardized definition of a "missing child" made it impossible to provide a single estimate of missing children. As a result, one of the primary goals of NISMART-2 was to develop a standardized definition and provide unified estimates of the number of missing children in the United States. Both NISMART-1 and NISMART-2 comprise several component datasets designed to provide a comprehensive picture of the population of children who experienced qualifying episodes, with each component focusing on a different aspect of the missing child population. The Household Survey -- Youth Data and the Household Survey -- Adult Data (Parts 1-2) are similar but separate surveys, one administered to the adult primary caretaker of the children in the sampled household and the other to a randomly selected household youth aged 10 through 18 at the time of interview. The Juvenile Facilities Data on Runaways (Part 3) sought to estimate the number of runaways from juvenile residential facilities in order to supplement the household survey estimate of the number of runaways from households. And the Law Enforcement Study Data, by case perpetrator, and victim, (Parts 4-6) intended to estimate the number of children who were victims of stereotypical kidnappings and to obtain a sample of these cases for in-depth study.

In 2022, there were over 107 thousand kidnapping and abduction cases reported in India. The leading reason for this crime was missing children deemed as kidnapped with over 33 thousand cases that year.

Dominican Republic: Kidnappings per 100,000 people: The latest value from 2016 is 0.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people, unchanged from 0.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people in 2015. In comparison, the world average is 2.3 kidnappings per 100,000 people, based on data from 77 countries. Historically, the average for Dominican Republic from 2005 to 2016 is 0.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The minimum value, 0.1 kidnappings per 100,000 people, was reached in 2006 while the maximum of 0.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people was recorded in 2005.

Australia: Kidnappings per 100,000 people: The latest value from 2017 is 2 kidnappings per 100,000 people, a decline from 2.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people in 2016. In comparison, the world average is 1.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people, based on data from 65 countries. Historically, the average for Australia from 2008 to 2017 is 5.5 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The minimum value, 2 kidnappings per 100,000 people, was reached in 2017 while the maximum of 19.1 kidnappings per 100,000 people was recorded in 2008.

Canada: Kidnappings per 100,000 people: The latest value from 2017 is 10.3 kidnappings per 100,000 people, a decline from 10.5 kidnappings per 100,000 people in 2016. In comparison, the world average is 1.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people, based on data from 65 countries. Historically, the average for Canada from 2003 to 2017 is 11.5 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The minimum value, 9.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people, was reached in 2013 while the maximum of 14.2 kidnappings per 100,000 people was recorded in 2008.

Kidnapping cases in South Africa have reached alarming levels, with a total of 17,061 incidents reported in 2023/2024. This represents an 11 percent increase from the previous year, highlighting a growing concern for public safety across the nation. Gauteng province, home to major cities like Johannesburg and Pretoria, recorded the highest number of kidnappings at 8,683 cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 3,329 cases.
Ransom and extortion drive kidnapping surge The rise in kidnappings appears to be driven by organized crime, with ransom-related abductions being the most common motive. In a select sample from the second quarter, 561 kidnappings were linked to ransom demands, while 93 cases were associated with extortion. This trend suggests a quarterly increase in kidnapping incidents, pointing to a persistent and evolving threat to public safety. The Moroka area in Gauteng province reported the highest number of kidnapping offenses, with nearly 240 cases, followed by Orange Farms with over 210 cases. The South African Police Services (SAPS) have reported that most cases were carried out during aggravated robberies such as hijackings and armed robberies at homes, businesses and public areas.
Regional context and broader implications South Africa's kidnapping rate of 9.57 per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023 was the highest among countries in Africa, surpassing Benin, which held the second-highest rate. This underscores the severity of the issue within the broader African context. The kidnapping crisis in South Africa occurs against a backdrop of wider regional instability, with countries in the Sahel like Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso experiencing significant conflict exposure, affecting between eight and 14 percent of their populations. In this semi-arid region of west and north-central Africa, kidnappings are used as a strategic warfare tool and perpetrated for financial gain, which proved to be a lucrative method to help fund some of al-Qaeda affiliates located on the continent.

The dataset contains year-, state-, type-of-crime- and gender-wise compiled data on the number of different types of crimes which were committed against children and the number of victims who were affected by the same crimes. The different types of crimes covered in the dataset include kidnapping and abduction crimes such as kidanapping and abduction for the purpose of murder, begging, ransom, compelling for marriage, procuration of minor girls, importation of girls from foreign countries, missing deemed as kidnapped, etc., fatal crimes such as murder, attempt to commit murder, muder with rape, abetment of suicide of child, infanticide, foeticide, trafficking and sexual crimes such buying and selling of minors for prostitution, use of children for pornography, transmiting sexual content and material involving children in sexually explicit acts, sexual assualt, penetrative sexual assault, rape, and other crimes such as child labour, child marriage, exposure, abandaonment, simple hurt, grievous hurt, insult and assualt of damage modesty, crimes under juvenile justice act and transplantation of organs act, etc.

This collection was undertaken in response to the mandate of the 1984 Missing Children Act. The objective of the act was to estimate the incidence of five categories of children: children abducted by family members, children abducted by nonfamily members, runaways, thrownaways (those not wanted by their families or taken from families because of abuse or neglect), and children considered missing. Data were collected by several different methods. The centerpiece of this collection is a household survey (Parts 19, 20, and 35) that interviewed families to determine whether any children fit the categories under study. Basic demographic information on age, race, and sex was collected, and questions on the family situation were asked of identified children and their parents and siblings. A survey of juvenile facilities (Parts 28 and 29) was also conducted to determine how many children had run away from these facilities. Facility administrators were prompted for demographic information on the runaways as well as for information on the structure of the runaways' families. In addition, a survey of returned runaways (children who had run away and returned home) (Part 30) was completed to find out whether children's accounts of runaway episodes matched the accounts given by their parents. Children were queried about their relationships with their parents and their views of their contributions to the family. They were also asked about each specific runaway episode: whether they actually ran away or were asked to leave, how long the episode lasted, whether friends knew about it, whether friends accompanied them, whether they used drugs before, during, or after the episode, how they were found, where they were found, and whether disciplinary action was taken. The police records component (Parts 31-33) contains information on homicides, abductions, and sexual assaults.

The average for 2017 based on 12 countries was 1.1 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The highest value was in Pakistan: 8.8 kidnappings per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Bhutan: 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.

Brazil led the list with a total of 4,390 kidnapping cases in the latest available data. Ecuador followed with 1,246 occurrences in 2022. On the flip side, there was only three reported kidnapping in the Antigua and Barbuda during that year. Homicides, another recurrent problem in Latin America Among the region's prevalent offenses, intentional homicide emerged as one of the main concerns in the region. Nonetheless, the rates vary among the different countries. Brazil leads the ranking of the most number of homicides in Latin America, as well as being the most populated country by far. On the other hand, Jamaica holds the top position according to the homicide rate, reporting nearly 61 instances per 100,000 inhabitants in 2023. Nevertheless, even with these varying homicide rates across countries, four out of five of the world's most perilous urban centers are situated in Mexico, with Colima leading the pack at a 2024 homicide rate of 140 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Cost of violence in Central America Following criminal acts, the responsibility for addressing the consequences falls squarely on the government, causing government expenditure to surge, called the cost of violence. Notably, Panama is more severely impacted in Central America, with the economic cost of violence per inhabitant accounting for over 3,771 U.S. dollars in 2022. In terms of a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), El Salvador takes the first place with a value of 15 percent of their GDP.

Kidnapping rate of Brazil soared by 25.00% from 0.3 cases per 100,000 population in 2017 to 0.3 cases per 100,000 population in 2018. Since the 5.29% slump in 2013, kidnapping rate rocketed by 59.90% in 2018. “Kidnapping” means unlawfully detaining a person or persons against their will (including through the use of force; threat; fraud or enticement) for the purpose of demanding for their liberation an illicit gain or any other economic gain or other material benefit; or in order to oblige someone to do or not to do something. “Kidnapping” excludes disputes over child custody. (UN-CTS M5.5)

What is an AMBER alert?

The AMBER Plan is a voluntary, cooperative program between law-enforcement agencies and local broadcasters to send an emergency alert to the public when a child has been abducted and it is believed that the child is in danger of serious bodily harm or death. Under the AMBER Plan, area radio and television stations interrupt programming to broadcast information about the missing child using the Emergency Alert System, formerly known as the Emergency Broadcast System. While EAS is typically used for alerting the public to severe weather emergencies, it is also the warning system for civil and national emergencies. The federal government requires all radio and television stations and most cable systems to install and maintain devices that can monitor EAS warnings and tests and relay them rapidly and reliably to their audiences. The idea behind the AMBER Plan is a simple one: if stations can broadcast weather warnings through EAS, why not child abductions? The AMBER Plan provides law-enforcement agencies with another tool to help recover abducted children and quickly apprehend the suspect.

PURPOSE

The purpose of the AMBER Plan is to provide a rapid response to the most serious child-abduction cases. When an AMBER Alert is activated, law-enforcement agencies immediately gain the assistance of thousands of broadcast and cable listeners and viewers throughout the area. The plan relies on the community to safely recover the abducted child. It is hoped that this early warning system will not only coerce a kidnapper into releasing the child for fear of being arrested but also deter the person from committing the crime in the first place.

Here you can find comparative information Children's involvement in civil and administrative justice comparative information on parental abductions for all the EU28 Member States on the basis of information collected from national and international databases. The data is available on e.g: - Children abducted by a parent/ guardian at national and international level;

• Cases concerning national abductions of children;

• Cases concerning international abductions of children.

In 2023/24 there were 7,277 kidnapping offences recorded by the police in England and Wales, a slight decrease when compared with the previous year when there were 7,378 offences. Kidnapping offences reached a low of 1,388 offences in the 2012/13 reporting year but have been increasing in almost every reporting year since then. Rising crime overall Kidnapping offences have increased at a time of rising overall crime. After declining for several years between 2003/04 and 2010/11, overall crime offences suddenly started to increase, and reached a recent peak of 6.74 million offences in 2022/23. While the overall number of crimes has grown, UK crime rates are actually slightly lower than in the early 2000s, due to population growth. As of 2023/24, the number of crimes per 1,000 people was 89.7 in England and Wales, 55 in Scotland, and 58.4 in Northern Ireland. Money and manpower to blame? The current crime trends that are prevailing in the UK have led to questions about the ability of the police to counter it, and if they have the manpower and resources to do so. For much of the 2010s the police had cuts to their funding leading to a decline in officer numbers, although both trends have recently been reversed, with funding increasing from the late 2010s onwards. Other parts of the justice system, such as legal aid funding have not seen a reversal of this trend, with spending in 2022/23 below that of 2014/15 in real terms.

The average for 2017 based on 4 countries was 5 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The highest value was in South Africa: 9.6 kidnappings per 100,000 people and the lowest value was in Morocco: 2.1 kidnappings per 100,000 people. The indicator is available from 2003 to 2017. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.