In the USA, the Department of Justice regularly publishes detailed statistics. Read about The Abduction Story: Nismart 2, 1999. PACT is campaigning for this quality of information in the UK.

• A total of 1,315,600 children went missing in 1999 (18.8 per 1,000 children)

Reasons children became missing in USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Episode Type	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	Rate per 1,000 children in the US population (Total no. children = 70,172,700)
Non-family abduction§	33,000	(2,000-64,000)	3	0.47
Family abduction	117,200	(79,000-155,400)	9	1.67
Runaway/Thrownaway	628,900	(481,000-776,900)	48	8.96
Missing involuntary, lost or injured	198,300	(124,800-271,800)	15	2.83
Missing, benign explanation	374,700	(289,900-459,500)	28	5.34
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. § includes stereotypical kidnapping. Note sample size is very small, so results may be unreliable. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates

• Of these, 797,500 were reported as missing to the police or other agencies for help in locating them.

Reasons children became missing in USA - Reported Missing Children (Total No. reported: 797,500) Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Episode Type	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	Rate per 1,000 children in the US population (Total no. children = 70,172,700)
Non-family abduction§	12,100	(<100-31,000)	2	0.17
Family abduction	56,500	(22,600-90,400)	7	0.81
Runaway/Thrownaway	357,600	(238,000-477,200)	45	5.10
Missing involuntary, lost or injured	61,900	(19,700-104,100)	8	0.88
Missing, benign explanation	340,500	(256,000-425,000)	43	4.85
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. § includes stereotypical kidnapping. Note sample size is very small, so results may be unreliable. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates

• Ages of missing children.

Ages of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Age	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
0-5	96,500	(48,400-144,700)	12	(7-17)	33
6-11	113,400	(61,500-165,300)	14	(8-20)	34
12-14	235,500	(161,300-309,700)	30	(19-40)	17
15-17	349,300	(235,600-444,900)	44	(35-53)	17
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges.

• Gender of children reported missing in the USA.

Gender of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Gender	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
Male	409,400	(290,400-528,400)	51	(42-61)	51
Female	388,000	(296,900-479,200)	49	(39-58)	49
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges.

• Race/Ethnicity of children reported missing in the USA.

Race/Ethnicity of children reported missing in the USA Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Race/ Ethnicity	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval	%	95% Confidence Interval	Percent of US child population (Total No. children = 70,172,700)
White, non-Hispanic	428,800	(331,500-526,100)	54	(46-62)	65
Black, non-Hispanic	149,700	(90,100-209,400)	19	(12-26)	15
Hispanic	163,900	(88,900-238,900)	21	(13-29)	16
Other	52,100	(19,000-85,200)	7	(3-10)	5
No infomation	3,000§	(<100-6,900)	<1§	(<1-1)	-
Total	797,500	(645,400-949,500)	100		100
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. Percents may not sum to 100 due to rounding. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges. § Estimate based on too few sample cases to be reliable.