Every year, there are thousands of missing persons incidents in London, with the number recently peaking at over 50,000 incidents in 2018. In amongst these incidents are people of all different ages, ethnicities and backgrounds, and each case has a different cause and outcome. Below are the numbers behind London’s missing people, from the 30,000 missing cases involving females in 2017 to the 13,000 children who have gone missing from residential care units.
This chart shows the total number of people in areas covered by both the City of London Police and Metropolitan Police between 2013 and 2019. The data represented here is based on annual reports by the UKMPU which show data about missing incidents collected over the course of that year. The numbers in this chart show data on those classed as "missing" only, not those classed as "absent" as that data was not available in every report so could not be compared. Numbers steadily increase until 2017/18 when missing people numbers decrease. There are more missing people in total in 2019 than any other year on this list, with missing children making up over half of those missing.
This chart shows the number of people who went missing in areas covered by the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police in the 2016/2017 period and 2019/2020 period. The data represented here comes from annual reports by UKMPU which show data about missing incidents collected over a period of 12 months. 12-17 year olds are most commonly reported missing in both years' data sets, followed by 18-39 years olds. The least likely age group to be reported missing based on this data are 0-11 year olds.
This heat map shows the number of missing persons incidents in each London borough: the darker the colour, the higher the number (hover over each borough to see the figure). Newham has the highest number of missing persons incidents at 2,695. Kensington has the lowest number of missing persons incidents at 104. While some of the most deprived boroughs have high numbers of missing persons incidents, there is no direct correlation. Tower Hamlets, the borough with the highest poverty rate in London had 944 missing persons incidents while Bromley, the borough with the lowest poverty rate in the capital had 1,832. [SG]
Missing person incidents fell by 26% from 2019 to 2020-2021. This compares with a drop of 1% from 2018 to 2019. This suggests the pandemic had a stark impact of reported missing persons incidents. Stringent lockdown measures may have been a factor. People were ordered to stay at home and could only leave for essential purposes, these rules were enforced by the police. There were also reports of a police backlog and a prioritisation of certain cases which may have skewed the number of missing persons reported. [SG]
The numbers of long-term missing individuals in London have varied overtime and experienced an increase since the 1950s. This data, however, only accounts for Locate International's current London active searches, meaning not every long-term missing person case in London is considered. This suggests that while this data shows an increase in the numbers of long-term missing in London, the figures including police data could be much higher. Summer (31) proved to be the season with the most long-term missing throughout the decades, and Autumn the lowest (16). [CH]
Missing children tend to return or be found earlier than adults. Despite children and minors being more likely to go missing, the vast majority of them are found within 24 hours and 90% of them returns within 2 days. This is likely to be due to higher priority being given to missing children cases. Only 2% of children goes missing for more than a month. To know more about why the first 24 hours are crucial and what steps are made during this time, read to this post. [VC]
This data reflects the significant spike in the amount of missing people found in London each decade since the 1970s. At first glance, it appears we are amidst a missing persons crisis due to the increased number of long-term missing each decade. However, this data is somewhat misleading because it fails to account for the ever-evolving recording practices put in place by police. Since missing persons data was first recorded in 1967, recording practices have improved and although they currently remain far from perfect, the statistics indicating a potential ‘crises’ are somewhat misleading and a myriad of other factors need to be considered when making an assessment of the current state of missing people in London. Read on for more information. [JA]
This chart shows different ethnic groups as a percentage of missing people in London versus the percentage of London’s population that the group constitutes. For clarity: as an example, Asian people constitute 13.85% of the population of London, and 9.3% of the people missing in London are Asian. The most notable discrepancy is that Black people make up 36.1% of missing cases in London but only account for 12.09% of the population. [CW]
This data shows the percentage of missing cases where the ethnicity is labeled as “Unknown” by police forces throughout the UK. On a national level, only 1% of the population identifies as unknown, yet in some police forces (Cumbria) as many as 91.2% of missing persons are reported as “Other/unknown”. These large figures raise concerns about the quality of ethnicity data collection by police units across the UK. In the case of Greater Manchester (100%), Durham (100%), Sussex (100%), the appropriate demographic information might be recorded in their individual systems, but because they cannot separate the data as requested they might not provide the data to the National Crime Agency. As a result, the total number of missing incidents are reported as Unknown.
Up until 2018, females of all ages were more likely to be reported missing than males. Over half of all UK missing incidents are now male, with mental health being one of the most common reasons for going missing. In 2019 – 2020, 57 per cent of missing incidents in London were male. Where the police have recorded mental health concerns, almost 60% of the incidents relate to boys and men in the UK. You can find out more on why this is the case here. [CGD]
This data shows that missing people are found unharmed 90% of the time. Of the 148,002 missing people cases reported in England and Wales, only 14,965 have resulted in a harmful outcome. Here, ‘harm’ is categorised as accidental, emotional, physical, self-inflicted, and sexual offence incidents. These statistics demonstrate that the general assumption that people who are missing have been harmed, murdered, or kidnapped by another person is misplaced. [NW]
In 2019/20 London accounted for less than 15% of national missing fatalities for adults but remained the highest contributing borough to the overall statistics - of course this is relative to London's high population. Yet, where nationally missing fatalities have steadily increased since 2016, these latest figures show that the capital has seen a 35% decrease in missing deaths since 2018. London does however still amount to an overwhelming portion of national missing fatalities in children. In 2016, the 13 fatal missing child cases in London made up 65% of the total fatalities in England and Wales. So, where nationally children make up 2 - 4% of the total missing fatalities each year, at a glance, the capital clearly has the much bigger problem with 3 - 11% of its missing fatalities under age 18. [NW]
These reasons are not mutually exclusive and there may be differences in how police forces record them. Despite these caveats, however, these figures show clearly that children are most likely to go missing for ‘lifestyle’ reasons: relationships, drugs and alcohol, school, finances, or employment, whilst adults are more likely to go missing for mental health related reasons. ‘Migrant related’ numbers are likely to be higher in children as this includes cases of unaccompanied minors going missing – this, along with the high percentage of ‘abuse and exploitation’ cases in children (which could include trafficking, modern slavery, and county lines) show that migrant children are at a particular risk of going missing. There is also likely to be some cross over between ‘medical’ and ‘confusion’ in adults, as ‘medical’ includes Alzheimer’s, which puts vulnerable adults at a particular risk of going missing. For more on why people go missing, please see this page. [EL]
“Missing from care” refers to incidents where a child or adult goes missing from a care residential unit – including psychiatric units, children’s homes, nursing and care homes. People in these situations experience specific vulnerabilities that might make them more prone to go missing in the first place. This is particularly true for children and minors. Nearly half of missing children goes missing from a residential care unit and 65% of them goes missing more than once during their childhood. Children go missing from care units more than adults do. The reasons for them to go missing might involve serious harms, including sexual abuse, criminal exploitation, mental health issues and being homed outside their area of origin. Going missing, especially when caused by difficult home situations, can cause longer-term effects, including addiction, homelessness and even more sexual and physical abuse. This is why it is particularly important to understand the needs of children in residential care units and foster homes and listen to the reasons why they go missing at such disproportionate rates. [VC]
This data reflects the percentage of teenagers who go missing based on different reasons. The reasons chosen are those where teenagers are particularly vulnerable to harm to demonstrate the dangers teenagers are susceptible to. This visualisation is based on 2019-2020 data provided by the United Kingdom Missing Persons Unit and teenagers are classified as individuals between 12 and 17 years. Trafficking (86 out of 106), modern slavery (56 out of 66), sexual exploitation (1846 out of 1885), gang-related activities (1319 out of 1370), unaccompanied juveniles (7774 out of 8302), county lines (773 out of 820), criminal exploitation (280 out of 298) and terrorist offences (8 out of 10) are some of the dangers teenagers are particularly vulnerable to with anywhere between 80% and 98% falling in this age category. However, it must be kept in mind that adults are less likely to be counted in categories of trafficking or sexual exploitation as opposed to minors, and this data may not be a true a reflection of why each individual has gone missing. Similarly, in the category of county lines, it is usually minors who are used to transport drugs from one area to another. Still, 61% of people who go missing because they were thrown out are teenagers and half of those who go missing because they were forced to leave home and/or abducted are also teenagers. Cultural offences such as honour-based violence and forced marriages also contribute to reasons why teenagers go missing, however their percentage is less than half. Overall, 57.5% of the total number of people who went missing (147798) were teenagers. [CD]
In 2014, Railway Children, a charity working with homeless children and children experiencing abuse, published an extensive report to document the experiences and stories of runaway children in the UK. The study, which used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research, remains to this day the most recent UK-wide investigation into the experiences of young runaways. This chart shows what social workers working with runaway teens as well as former runaways themselves would say are the places children are more likely to go to when being reported missing. Data was collected through consultation with social workers and a qualitative analysis of return interviews with young runaways. Participants had to rank these places from the most likely to the least likely to be mentioned. [VC]
When police receive a missing persons report they face a tough decision, one which will determine the amount of energy and resources that go into finding someone’s loved one. The officer that receives the report must try to accurately assess the missing person’s level of risk: high, medium, low, or absent. [SD]