A missing person is a person who has disappeared and nobody seems to know where they are.
People can go missing for many reasons.
People disappear for many reasons. These are some reasons why someone may go missing by choice:
There are also reasons why someone may go missing without wanting to:
Normally it is the police who search for a missing person. If someone goes missing at sea, they may instead call on the coast guard or a similar agency.
Most missing person cases that are reported to the police are simple cases, where the person is found quickly. In 1999, 800,000 children went missing in the United States, but only 115 cases were kidnapped by a stranger who wanted to keep them for a long period of time.
A small number of missing person cases are not solved for many years. These cases can be painful for friends and families, because they cannot be sure what happened to the person. In most countries, the law says that if someone has been missing for many years, the government can declare that the person is dead. This is known as "declaring death in absentia". Sometimes there are cases of persons missing for no known reason:
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