Women and girls are kidnapped most frequently globally, often for sexual exploitation or forced labor, making up the majority of human trafficking victims, while children are also highly vulnerable, especially in family or acquaintance abductions, with teens and young adults (18-34) frequently targeted in general abductions. The specific demographics vary by abduction type, but females are consistently overrepresented as victims.
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%.
Countries with the highest rates
Kidnapping for ransom is a common occurrence in various parts of the world today. 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.
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.
About Kidnapping
The countries with the highest rates of kidnap are those with weak security infrastructures, high levels of impunity and economic disparity, such as Mexico, Venezuela and Nigeria, and those experiencing prolonged conflicts, such as Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan.
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.
The United States has the highest number of missing persons, with 521,705 people reported missing in 2021.
The targets of hate crime
Of the 11,679 hate crimes reported: 5,866 were on the basis of race. 3,004 against Black people. 797 against Latinx people (the second highest ever recorded).
While it's hard to definitively name the single longest missing child globally due to varying records, Marjorie West, who vanished in 1938 at age 4 in Pennsylvania, USA, holds a strong claim as a very long-term missing child, missing for over 87 years, representing a case that spans decades without resolution. Other prominent long-term cases include Mary Boyle, missing from Ireland since 1977, and Nicole Morin, missing from Canada since 1985, highlighting the enduring mystery in these and countless other unsolved disappearances.
Crime rate by country 2025: 10 countries with the highest crime...
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.
If you see a car going slowly along the street and pulling over next to a kid, you should know that this is a warning sign. And if a driver is asking a child for directions or inviting them to get into the car, this is definitely a kidnapper. A normal driver will ask adults, police officers, or simply use a GPS.
The kidnappers demand a ransom from the abductee's family or associates in exchange for their release. The kidnappers may also demand the release of prisoners, policy changes or publicity for their cause.
Always be alert to your personal security and surroundings. Avoid distractions. Be prepared to stop or take evasive action if you sense danger. Get professional security advice for travel in locations with a heightened kidnap risk.
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.
Most abductions occur at home or within a quarter mile of the home. Women are more likely to commit family child abductions.
Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., 20-month-old son of the famous aviator and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped about 9:00 p.m., on March 1, 1932, from the nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, New Jersey.
Charles Lindbergh: The aviator's two-year-old son, Charles Jr., was kidnapped in 1932 and was killed. Bruno Hauptmann was arrested and executed for the crime, but concerns remain regarding Hauptmann's guilt and the fairness of the trial (see Lindbergh kidnapping).
What Are the Penalties for Federal Kidnapping?
Victimization rates show clear racial disparities. American Indian people and African Americans are the most likely to be victimized by serious violent offenses, followed by Hispanic people and, finally, by non-Hispanic White and Asian people.
Among known risk factors for being convicted of a violent crime, male sex is the most prominent; men commit about 90 % of violent crimes [1, 3]. Substance abuse carries an increased risk for violent crime, both among offenders [11] and in general population samples [12–14].
What is a hate crime? A hate crime is any offense committed against you or your property because of your race, ethnicity, religion, nationality, disability, gender or sexual orientation. Anybody can be a victim.
Madeleine Beth McCann (born 12 May 2003) is a British missing person, who at the age of 3 disappeared from her bed in a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz, Lagos, Portugal, on the evening of 3 May 2007. The Daily Telegraph described her disappearance as "the most heavily reported missing-person case in modern history".
Alaska has the most missing persons per capita, with 41.8 people missing per 100,000 population.
Do not wait as time is extremely important: