In 2022 alone, there were 67 people missing on average every day in Italy . Most of these are voluntary removals but a smaller percentage concerns possible victims of crime or children taken away from one of the parents.

15,000 are foreigners of whom nothing is known (especially minors), just over 9,000 Italians.

The data was provided on the occasion of the annual report of the government commissioner for missing persons, Antonino Bella : "Minors, adults and the elderly - he underlined when presenting the report to the Viminale - who make them lose track by placing their families in a situation of great anguish, between hopes and pain. In the war year, there are also 70 Ukrainian children, a number more than tripled compared to 2021.

And with the increase in migratory flows, the total number of complaints also rises : almost two thirds concern foreign citizens - 15,152 in total (a number increased by 32.35% more than the previous year) - and in particular minors, 13,002 those reported missing last year, nearly 36 a day.

Since 2013, the Interior Ministry has reported 180,827 missing person reports , 118,178 people traced in the meantime. Of the 24,000 who vanished into thin air last year, 12,170 have been found, 175 are dead. There are also 942 over 65s, almost all Italians and mostly men, 80% were later found; 4,128 Italian boys reported missing, and a thousand are still to be found.

On the grounds verified by the forces of order at the time of the report, in 82% of cases the removals are voluntary, only 0.22% concern victims of crime, 0.27 the abduction of the minor by the spouse or a other relative.

Since last year there has been a project for a single bank with information on missing persons and unnamed corpses, and work is underway to implement the DNA database .

(Unioneonline/ss)

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