Einar H. Dyvik
Research expert covering Nordics and global data for society, economy, and politics
Missing persons in the United States - statistics & facts
About 600,000 people go missing in the United States annually, thought to account for the most missing persons cases recorded across the globe. Although most of these missing person cases are soon resolved, others remain open for decades; as of January 2025, over 25,500 missing person cases were still open according to the Department of Justice’s National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) database. As NamUS relies solely on reports from law enforcement and the greater public without considering regional changes in reporting processes, however, there may be more missing Americans than officially recorded.
