How many children go missing in Europe every year?

More than 124,000 virtual reports of disappeared children were sent to Missing Children Europe (MCE), the European federation for missing and sexually exploited children, last year. 

The figure is nearly double the amount recorded in 2023. The federation does not explain what caused this significant rise.

Reports can be made by alerting the hotlines through phone calls, text messages, emails, chat services, and social media.  

The report cites data from 22 European countries, including Finland, France, Poland, Spain, Albania, and the United Kingdom.

Most missing children are found by law enforcement agencies, while children returning of their own accord is the second most common way of children being recovered.

In the past two years, 67% of recorded cases involve children who have either run away or been pushed out of their homes or care institutions.

The median ages of children who go missing, according to 18 hotlines that could provide such data, ranged from 12 to 16 years old, indicating that adolescent children are the most at risk.

Why do children go missing, and how long does it take to find them?

Problems at home and in institutions, as well as issues related to drug or alcohol abuse, are among the most common reasons reported by hotlines. 

This is followed by mental health issues, problems at school, and grooming or exploitation.

Six in 10 children reported to have run away were girls.  

"However, evidence from Belgium, comparing hotline with police data, suggests a possible gender bias in reporting, with boys being underreported compared to girls," the MCE report stated.

The majority of children who ran away were found in less than a week (78%), while 15% were found between a week and a month after their disappearance, according to 11 MCE hotlines.

Data from those same hotlines found that one child was discovered dead.

Missing migrant children

Cases involving children in migration slightly rose in 2024, to 7%. However, MCE warned that there is a lack of comprehensive data on children in migration, limiting the understanding of how many of these children disappear.

In such cases, more boys than girls are missing. This is related to the fact that there are more male than female asylum seekers and refugees.  

The average age range for children missing in migration was between 12 and 17 years old, according to reports by nine hotlines.

According to data provided by five hotlines, 69 of these children were found alive, 46 of whom were found in less than a week, and three children were found between one month and 12 months after their disappearance.

Morocco, Afghanistan, Algeria, and Syria are the most common countries of origin for children going missing while migrating. 

Between 2021 and 2023, more than 50,000 unaccompanied migrant children in the European Union disappeared from the radar, according to Lost in Europe.