Wiesbaden (dpa / lnw) - In North Rhine-Westphalia, 318 children under the age of 14 are currently missing. This was announced by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) on Tuesday in Wiesbaden on request. In the cases that have not yet been clarified, in addition to permanent runaways, child abductions and unaccompanied refugee children who have disappeared from their accommodation are also recorded.
Overall, the proportion of children's fates that cannot be clarified even after a long time is very low, according to the BKA. According to statistics, there are more than 1,600 missing children nationwide. The most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia is in second place behind Bavaria (348) in terms of the number of missing persons.
With a Day of Missing Children this Wednesday, information about preventive care options should be provided. In Germany, the day has been taken up by the "Missing Children Initiative" since 2003.
According to BKA information, an average of around 15,700 children and young people have been reported missing over the course of the year. The clearance rate is around 97 percent. When children and young people disappear, there are various reasons for this, such as problems at school or with their parents, as well as lovesickness. Or parents fought over custody. The oldest case of a child still missing in the BKA file dates from 1964.
