Every Two Minutes a Child is Reported Missing in Europe! How to Protect Kids?

Every year, tens of thousands of children go missing in the United States. The exact number is hard to pin down, as it varies by state — but the FBI estimates that every 40 seconds, a child goes missing or is abducted. That comes to about 2,200 children a day and 765,000 children a year.

While many of these kids are ultimately found, that’s a lot of children who are unaccounted for.

Fortunately, there are steps you can take as a parent or guardian to protect your child from becoming one of those statistics. Let’s take a look at what you can do.

How Many Children Go Missing and Where Do They Go Missing From?

Worldwide, around 8 million children are reported missing each year. The United States accounts for a large percentage of those.

Missing child reports come from many different situations, including abductions, parental "abductions," runaways, being kicked out, or being lost.

In 2020, nearly 400,000 youth were abducted in the United States. Many of these were teens, but the reality is that the older the age of the person, the less likely it is that the cause is due to abduction. Still, teens are the most likely to be victimized. Although the press focuses most intensively on the kidnappings of kids younger than 12, statistics demonstrate that teens between the ages of 12-18 account for 80% of all parental and stranger abductions.

In the United States, Texas has the highest number of missing kids. Below are the statistics by state (TOP 6):

1. Texas — 3,588
2. New York — 2,502
3. Florida — 2,197
4. Ohio — 2,259
5. California — 1,828
6. Washington — 1,585

The rest of the states are ranked as follows:

1. Illinois — 986
2. Pennsylvania — 958
3. Massachusetts — 928
4. Georgia — 705
5. Kansas — 652
6. Missouri — 619
7. Colorado — 618
8. Tennessee — 568
9. Michigan — 564
10. Maryland — 542
11. Oregon — 500
12. North Carolina — 472
13. Indiana — 470
14. South Carolina — 419
15. Rhode Island — 375
16. Oklahoma — 347
17. Nevada — 345
18. New Mexico — 340
19. Virginia — 306
20. Wisconsin — 300
21. Louisiana — 287
22. Nebraska — 279
23. Arkansas — 252
24. Kentucky — 239
25. Minnesota — 222
26. Alabama — 211
27. New Jersey — 166
28. Utah — 165
29. Connecticut — 140
30. Hawaii — 140
31. Mississippi — 138
32. Idaho — 128
33. West Virginia — 90
34. New Hampshire — 81
35. North Dakota — 73
36. Delaware — 53
37. Iowa — 51
38. Vermont — 47
39. Alaska — 46
40. District of Columbia — 33
41. Montana — 26
42. Wyoming — 19
43. South Dakota — 17
44. Maine — 12

Source: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

UK and Global

Speaking of the United Kingdom, about 113,000 children go missing there every year. This is much less than in the States, but more than in any other European country or Asia.

Here are the statistics from around the world:

1. With a population of 1.3 billion, about 100,000 children go missing in India every year.
2. Germany, with a population of 84 million, reports the same number of kidnappings (as in India), granted with a much higher rate.
3. Every two minutes a child is reported missing in Europe:
   a. Spain — 20,000 kids
   b. 35 children disappear in Italy each day
   c. In France, 53,439 minors were reported missing in a year (one report every ten minutes)
4. Every year, 20,000 children are kidnapped in China.
5. Turkey presents the highest child abduction rate — 14.86 cases per 100,000 people.
6. Around 20,000 children go missing every year in Australia.
7. In Canada, an estimated 45,288 children are reported missing each year.

Source: Missing Children

The Main Question: What To Do About It and How to Protect Your Child

Tomsickova Tatyana/Shutterstock.com

The exact number of missing kids is unknown, as many cases go unreported or are never solved. However, we do know that a large majority of missing children are found safe within a few hours or days. Around 95–99% of these kids come home alive.

Yes, the numbers are encouraging. But let's look at it from the other side — every year more than 750 thousand families in the US go through stress, anxiety, panic and fear while searching for a missing child. Therefore, it is better to solve the problem with preventive measures. That is, to do everything so that the child does not get lost:

1. The first step in protecting your child is understanding their habits and routines. This includes knowing where they like to go after school, who their friends are, which websites they visit, and so on.
2. Be sure to talk to your children about safety measures. Tell them everything you can about proper behavior, including online behavior, as well as around strangers.
3. Teach them how to recognize warning signs early on so that they have the skills necessary to protect themselves should something happen while they are away from home.
4. Pay close attention to the psychological well-being of your child. What's the family atmosphere? How is your child faring? Teenagers often don't get lost by chance or by accident, but instead, they leave the home on purpose. This is often due to rebellion, conflicts, and even misunderstandings.
5. Having meaningful conversations is important. But if you're a stickler for action or if your child is too young for these kinds of talks, it's a good idea to secure them by giving them gadgets that will keep them safe. One option? A GPS tracker.

Application with GPS

The Findmykids App will allow you to monitor the location of your kids throughout the day. You will see the current geolocation of the child, the route of their movement, and even receive notifications when the child leaves any safe zone that you set yourself (for example, ‘School’, ‘Home’, ‘Yard’, ‘Grandma’, and so on).

This app has countless features that will help keep your child safe. One is the low battery level notification that will let you know that your child's phone is running low. There is also a sound around feature and an SOS button, the latter of which your child can press in a dangerous situation to instantly notify you that he or she needs help.

This way, if your child was late, left somewhere without warning, or is not answering any calls, you don't need to call the FBI. You can instead find out where they are with one touch, listen to what is happening, and respond if needed (or stop panicking if there is no response needed).

The app is compatible with smartphones and GPS watches. If your child is a preschooler or in elementary school, we recommend that you consider buying a kids' GPS watch—they can't be lost or forgotten and are easier to use than smartphones.

GPS Watch For Kids

For very young children or those without a smartphone, the Findmykids GPS watch is also a great choice.

Children's watches bundled with the Findmykids app have the same features as smartphones, including:

• Current location
• Sound around
• Travel history
• Movement notifications
• SOS button
• Text and audio messages

The main differences between watches and smartphones are ease of use (the SOS button, for example, is easier to press on the watch), duration of operation, and reliability. The watches cannot be lost, forgotten, or broken—most models have a high level of protection against moisture and damage.

The watch is suitable for children of any age—from kindergarteners to teenagers.

FAQ

Which state has the most missing children?

According to the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Throwaway Children (NISMART), approximately 2,300 children go missing every day in the United States, with the most disappearances occurring in Texas, New York, Florida, Ohio, California, and Washington.

Is it true that every 40 seconds a child goes missing?

A child goes missing every 40 seconds in America. That comes to 765,000 children a year.

How many kids go missing every day?

It is estimated that 2,300 children are missing every day in the United States. Children can become missing for many reasons.

Sources:

1. FBI — FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
2. National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
3. World Population Review
4. MOCHIP — Missouri Child Identification and Protection Program
5. ICMEC — International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children
6. Statista.com
7. The Reuters News Agency
8. Child Find of America
9. National Crime Agency, UK Missing Persons Bureau