Statistics on missing kids have recently been provided in a series of bulletins dated October 2002, which summarize a collection of studies forming the National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children, also known as NISMART.  The NISMART bulletins are a provision of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), which is an extension of the Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.  The key findings of the bulletins are as follows:

National Estimates of Missing Children

• In 1999, the number of children missing from their caretakers for at least one hour is estimated at a total of 1,315,600.
• Of the nearly 1,315,600 children missing, 99.8 percent safely returned or were located during the study.  Therefore, 0.2 percent - a total of 2,500 missing children had not been located or returned.
• The number of children reported missing to police or other agencies was estimated at 797,500, equating to 1.14 percent of children counted amongst the U.S. population.
• 48 percent of the caretaker missing children were determined to have runaway and confusion of understanding or communications concerning their whereabouts resulted in 28 percent of the cases.
• 15 percent of all children missing from their caretaker were the consequence of injury or loss.
• Family member abductions accounted for 9 percent of children missing from their caretaker and 3 percent resulting from non-family, perpetrator abductions.