Statistics released by NPA Japan in 2022 detail the number of missing persons, including data on the type of people who went missing and the reasons behind their disappearance. The data reveals that since 1955, the total number of missing person reports has consistently ranged from 80,000 to 100,000, which suggests a significant number of missing individuals in Japan. This could be due to the societal pressures and stress experienced by people in Japan.
The situation of Missing Persons: National Police Agency https://www.npa.go.jp/safetylife/seianki/fumei/R04yukuefumeisha.pdf
The Total Number of Missing Persons Reports
The number of missing reports in Japa has remained unchanged since 1955, between 80,000 and 100,000. In recent times, as the years have passed, there has been an increasing number of missing males compared to females and a higher proportion of missing adults compared to juveniles.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Year | Number of missing person reports received | Location confirmation number | ||||
2 | Total number | By gender | Adults and teenagers | ||||
3 | Male | Female | Adult | Juvenile | |||
4 | 1955 | 85,719 | |||||
5 | 1955 | 85,510 | |||||
6 | 1955 | 85,096 | |||||
7 | 1952 | 83,236 | |||||
8 | 1960 | 85,867 | |||||
9 | 1968 | 87,601 | |||||
10 | 1960 | 84,430 | 44,834 | 39,596 | |||
11 | 1968 | 84,198 | 43,550 | 40,648 | 42,482 | 41,716 | |
12 | 1968 | 88,286 | 45,648 | 42,638 | 44,146 | 44,140 | |
13 | 1965 | 87,324 | 44,069 | 43,255 | 44,355 | 42,969 | |
14 | 1968 | 91,593 | 46,144 | 45,449 | 46,783 | 44,810 | 63,667 |
15 | 1968 | 93,428 | 46,143 | 47,285 | 48,822 | 44,606 | 64,914 |
16 | 1968 | 96,069 | 46,037 | 50,032 | 50,940 | 45,129 | 68,737 |
17 | 1964 | 94,895 | 45,622 | 49,273 | 51,074 | 43,821 | 67,382 |
18 | 1971 | 100,753 | 49,195 | 51,558 | 55,761 | 44,992 | 74,218 |
19 | 1971 | 97,035 | 46,719 | 50,316 | 56,292 | 40,743 | 72,176 |
20 | 1972 | 90,460 | 43,360 | 47,100 | 53,126 | 37,334 | 68,519 |
21 | 1972 | 90,447 | 43,939 | 46,508 | 54,179 | 36,268 | 70,523 |
22 | 1971 | 84,331 | 39,953 | 44,378 | 51,614 | 32,717 | 66,001 |
23 | 1975 | 91,845 | 43,330 | 48,515 | 53,694 | 38,151 | 73,415 |
24 | 1975 | 94,121 | 44,305 | 49,816 | 53,714 | 40,407 | 78,461 |
25 | 1978 | 95,457 | 45,089 | 50,368 | 54,547 | 40,910 | 81,912 |
26 | 1978 | 101,047 | 47,280 | 53,767 | 55,357 | 45,690 | 86,660 |
27 | 1978 | 100,051 | 47,450 | 52,601 | 55,980 | 44,071 | 86,811 |
28 | 1981 | 101,318 | 48,398 | 52,920 | 55,206 | 46,112 | 88,821 |
29 | 1981 | 104,624 | 50,671 | 53,953 | 57,018 | 47,606 | 90,352 |
30 | 1981 | 105,653 | 53,435 | 52,218 | 59,190 | 46,463 | 95,013 |
31 | 1981 | 115,236 | 58,854 | 56,382 | 68,309 | 46,927 | 99,100 |
32 | 1981 | 104,187 | 53,670 | 50,517 | 62,789 | 41,398 | 90,648 |
33 | 1985 | 96,753 | 50,268 | 46,485 | 56,190 | 40,563 | 87,523 |
34 | 1986 | 95,399 | 49,729 | 45,670 | 55,447 | 39,952 | 84,430 |
35 | 1986 | 90,626 | 46,974 | 43,652 | 53,172 | 37,454 | 82,510 |
36 | 1986 | 90,490 | 46,577 | 43,913 | 52,912 | 37,578 | 83,345 |
37 | 1989 | 92,200 | 47,081 | 45,119 | 52,857 | 39,343 | 82,472 |
38 | 1990 | 90,508 | 47,047 | 43,461 | 53,111 | 37,397 | 80,666 |
39 | 1991 | 88,584 | 46,959 | 41,625 | 54,975 | 33,609 | 79,505 |
40 | 1992 | 85,269 | 46,995 | 38,274 | 56,359 | 28,910 | 76,110 |
41 | 1993 | 81,458 | 46,145 | 35,313 | 55,381 | 26,077 | 72,403 |
42 | 1994 | 82,287 | 46,913 | 35,374 | 56,694 | 25,593 | 71,969 |
43 | 1995 | 80,030 | 46,185 | 33,845 | 56,139 | 23,891 | 70,490 |
44 | 1996 | 85,157 | 49,098 | 36,059 | 59,658 | 25,499 | 72,289 |
45 | 1997 | 86,372 | 50,198 | 36,174 | 60,397 | 25,975 | 72,439 |
46 | 1998 | 89,388 | 53,469 | 35,919 | 63,881 | 25,507 | 76,403 |
47 | 1999 | 88,362 | 53,539 | 34,823 | 64,336 | 24,026 | 76,389 |
48 | 2000 | 97,268 | 58,946 | 38,322 | 71,854 | 25,414 | 83,730 |
49 | 2001 | 102,130 | 60,581 | 41,549 | 75,189 | 26,941 | 86,633 |
50 | 2002 | 102,880 | 63,151 | 39,729 | 78,798 | 24,082 | 88,323 |
51 | 2003 | 101,855 | 63,819 | 38,036 | 78,793 | 23,062 | 89,734 |
52 | 2004 | 95,989 | 61,276 | 34,713 | 74,487 | 21,502 | 85,199 |
53 | 2005 | 90,650 | 57,706 | 32,944 | 70,380 | 20,270 | 81,297 |
54 | 2006 | 89,688 | 56,889 | 32,799 | 69,336 | 20,352 | 82,073 |
55 | 2007 | 88,489 | 55,611 | 32,878 | 68,290 | 20,199 | 82,387 |
56 | 2008 | 84,739 | 53,570 | 31,169 | 64,670 | 20,069 | 78,668 |
57 | 2009 | 81,644 | 51,828 | 29,816 | 62,300 | 19,344 | 79,936 |
58 | 2010 | 80,655 | 51,706 | 28,949 | 61,123 | 19,532 | 78,467 |
59 | 2011 | 81,643 | 51,041 | 30,602 | 62,587 | 19,056 | 74,829 |
60 | 2012 | 81,111 | 52,187 | 28,924 | 60,811 | 20,300 | 79,730 |
61 | 2013 | 83,948 | 53,916 | 30,032 | 63,147 | 20,801 | 82,182 |
62 | 2014 | 81,193 | 52,736 | 28,457 | 62,461 | 18,732 | 79,269 |
63 | 2015 | 82,035 | 53,319 | 28,716 | 64,064 | 17,971 | 80,232 |
64 | 2016 | 84,850 | 54,664 | 30,186 | 66,600 | 18,250 | 83,865 |
65 | 2017 | 84,850 | 54,574 | 30,276 | 67,240 | 17,610 | 81,946 |
66 | 2018 | 87,962 | 56,379 | 31,583 | 70,328 | 17,634 | 84,753 |
67 | 2019 | 86,933 | 55,747 | 31,186 | 70,108 | 16,825 | 84,362 |
68 | 2020 | 77,022 | 48,994 | 28,028 | 63,107 | 13,915 | 79,640 |
69 | 2021 | 79,218 | 50,289 | 28,929 | 64,631 | 14,587 | 78,024 |
70 | 2022 | 84,910 | 54,259 | 30,651 | 71,808 | 13,102 | 80,653 |
By Cause
By cause/motive, the most common cause was disease-related at 24,719 (composition ratio 29.1%), of which 18,709 were due to dementia or suspected dementia (composition ratio 22.0%). Following disease-related cases, the most significant number of cases were household-related at 12,899 (composition ratio 15.2%), and business/occupation-related at 9,615 (composition ratio 11.3%) (others unspecified) were excluded.
The cause and motive for a missing person are based on the information provided by the person who reported them missing. The term “criminal-related” is used for those who may have gone away to avoid being caught for committing a crime. “Other” includes reasons such as adventurousness, being at risk of becoming a victim of a crime, or being involved in an accident.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cause | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | ||||||
2 | Ratio | Ratio | Ratio | Ratio | Ratio | |||||||
3 | Disease related | 23,347 | 26.50% | 23,906 | 27.50% | 23,592 | 30.60% | 23,308 | 29.40% | 24,719 | 29.10% | |
4 | Dementia related | 16,927 | 19.20% | 17,479 | 20.10% | 17,565 | 22.80% | 17,636 | 22.30% | 18,709 | 22.00% | |
5 | Family related | 14,866 | 16.90% | 14,335 | 16.50% | 12,894 | 16.70% | 12,415 | 15.70% | 12,899 | 15.20% | |
6 | Business related | 10,980 | 12.50% | 10,244 | 11.80% | 7,821 | 10.20% | 8,814 | 11.10% | 9,615 | 11.30% | |
7 | Academic related | 2,345 | 2.70% | 2,105 | 2.40% | 1,688 | 2.20% | 1,750 | 2.20% | 1,771 | 2.10% | |
8 | Opposite sex related | 1,569 | 1.80% | 1,493 | 1.70% | 1,307 | 1.70% | 1,240 | 1.60% | 1,272 | 1.50% | |
9 | Crimine related | 548 | 0.60% | 502 | 0.60% | 415 | 0.50% | 420 | 0.50% | 407 | 0.50% | |
10 | Others | 18,898 | 21.50% | 17,638 | 20.30% | 14,649 | 19.00% | 15,477 | 19.50% | 17,147 | 20.20% | |
11 | Unknown | 15,409 | 17.50% | 16,710 | 19.20% | 14,656 | 19.00% | 15,794 | 19.90% | 17,080 | 20.10% | |
12 | Total number | 87,962 | 100% | 86,933 | 100% | 77,022 | 100% | 79,218 | 100% | 84,910 | 100% | |
Location Period
In 2020, among the missing persons cases in Japan where the individuals’ whereabouts were confirmed, 67,415 were located by either the police or the person who reported them. Most of these cases were resolved rapidly, with 36,918 people found on the same day the report was filed. Additionally, 20,600 were located within 2 to 7 days of the report. This data highlights the efficiency in resolving many missing person cases within a short time frame, particularly within the first week of reporting.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Total | The period between receiving a missing person report and confirming their location | |||||||||
2 | 1D | 2D – 7D | 8D – 14D | 15D – 1M | 1M – 3M | 3M – 6M | 6M – 1Y | 1Y – 2Y | 2Y or more | ||
3 | Location confirmed | 67,415 | 36,918 | 20,600 | 1,854 | 1,548 | 1,936 | 1,017 | 1,193 | 799 | 1,550 |
4 | Death confirmed | 3,739 | 962 | 1,570 | 316 | 225 | 254 | 114 | 93 | 52 | 153 |
5 | Others | 9,499 | 660 | 802 | 203 | 260 | 625 | 499 | 1,987 | 1,042 | 3,421 |
6 | Total number | 80,653 | 38,540 | 22,972 | 2,373 | 2,033 | 2,815 | 1,630 | 3,273 | 1,893 | 5,124 |
Conclusions
- More males (about 64%) go missing than females (about 35%).
- People in their 20s represent the largest group, with teens and 20s accounting for about 40% of all missing persons.
- Out of all the reported missing persons, more than 85 percent are eventually located or unfortunately found deceased. Most missing persons are discovered shortly after the report, with many found on the same day or within the first week.
- The most common causes are disease-related (including dementia), family relations, business/professional issues, academic stress, romantic relationship issues, and criminal ties.
