Missing Persons by State 2023
According to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons (NamUS) database, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Justice, more than 600,000 people go missing annually. Approximately 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year. Nationwide, there are roughly 6.5 missing persons for every 100,000 people. Luckily, the vast majority of missing persons cases are quickly resolved. For example, in 2021, 521,705 missing person cases were reported, more than 485,000 of which were resolved within the year. The number of missing person cases has steadily declined since 1997, when nearly a million people were reported missing. In the past few two decades communication has made it easier to keep in touch with and track persons, allowing missing person reports to fall by over 40%. Still, more than 20,000 missing person cases and 14,000 unidentified body cases remain open. In absolute terms, California has the largest number of missing…
