Stranger abductions of children are very rare in Australia, with most missing children cases involving teens running away or family disputes, not strangers; while exact stranger abduction numbers vary, they make up a tiny fraction (around 40%) of all child abductions, with most missing youth (nearly 70%) found safe within days, often at a friend's house.
How many children go missing in Australia each year? About 38,000 Australians are reported missing each year, including around 3,000 children aged 0 to 12 and around 19,000 young people aged 13 to 17. The good news is that most missing persons are found alive within a few days.
Countries with the highest rates
In 2018, the United Nations found Pakistan and England had the highest number of kidnappings while New Zealand had the highest rate among the 70 countries for which data is available.
More than 5000 missing persons cases are reported in South Australia every year.
“….. A child goes missing every 40 seconds in the U.S., over 2,100 per day. In excess of 800,000 children are reported missing each year; another 500,000 go missing without ever being reported.” - Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).
According to another source, only about 100 cases per year can be classified as abductions by strangers. According to the State Department, between 2008 and 2017 an average of about 1,100 children were abducted from the U.S. to a foreign country.
The United States has the highest number of missing persons, with 521,705 people reported missing in 2021.
While most of Australia's 50,000+ annual missing person reports are resolved quickly, around 2,000 to 2,700 people remain missing long-term (over three months), with a small percentage never found, including historical cases like the Beaumont children. The focus is on the ongoing efforts to find those missing for extended periods, as the search for them never ends for their families.
Our youth are most susceptible to go missing with a rate six times that of any other age group. Those aged between 13 and 17 account for half of all missing persons reported to police, approximately 19,000 reports each year. There are many reasons why youth go missing.
The top countries migrating to Australia consistently include India, China, and the Philippines, often followed by nations like the United Kingdom, Nepal, and New Zealand, with India frequently leading in recent skilled migration streams and overall population increase, while the UK historically contributes significantly to the total foreign-born population. Recent trends show strong growth from India, China, Philippines, and Nepal in skilled visas and population influx.
Kidnapping rate - Country rankings
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.
According to the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), approximately two-thirds of stranger abductions involve female children. The Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative also notes that abducted victims are predominantly female, at 73%.
Kidnapping is the forcible stealing or carrying away of a person by force, threat, deceit, or with intent to cause the kidnapped person harm. Abduction involves persuading a person to come with you (usually a child that is known to the abductor), taking a person by fraud, or taking a person by open force or violence.
Canberra, the capital city of Australia, is considered the safest city. According to Numbeo, its safety index is 73.6, which is higher than other cities in Australia. It also ranked as the 49th safest city in global rankings.
About 38,000 missing persons reports are received by police each year across Australia. While most of those missing people are found within a short period of time, there are about 2,600 people who have been missing for more than three months.
One Missing Child Is One Too Many
The reasons for going missing are many and varied and can include mental illness, miscommunication, misadventure, domestic violence, and being a victim of crime. While there are inherent risks attached to any missing event, specific population groups are recognised as particularly vulnerable to harm while missing.
Abductor Profile
— A child is most likely to go missing over the summer. That's according to data from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. In that same study, they reported more than 36 million cases of children being exploited not only in person but also online.
The 'Somerton Man' is the case of an unidentified man found dead on Somerton Beach near Adelaide on 1 December 1948. The mystery also became known the 'Tamam Shud case' and, to this day, the man's identity and the truth about how he met his fate are still unknown.
Murphy's body has not been found, although some of her belongings were found approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Ballarat.
Currently 816 people are missing from NSW, followed by 559 in Victoria, 386 in Queensland, and 353 in Western Australia. Tasmania has an overall 176 missing, while Northern Territory has 170, South Australia has 149 and ACT has 14.
Full List
According to data from the 2019 United States Census, people who are Black or African American make up 13.4% of the United States population (QuickFacts). However, nearly 40% of missing persons are people of color (“Statistics,” Black and Missing). Black children make up about 33% of all missing child cases.
In the United States, approximately 460,000 children are reported missing each year. In Spain, nearly 20,000 children are reported missing every year. In Canada, approximately 45,288 children are reported missing each year. In Russia, nearly 45,000 children were reported missing in 2015.