The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has sounded the alarm after revealing a staggering 70% rise in the number of people reported missing worldwide over the past five years.
New figures show that the tally of those unaccounted for has leapt from 169,500 in 2019 to around 284,400 by the end of 2024 – a net increase of nearly 115,000. The organisation warns this is only a fraction of the true scale, with countless families left in limbo.
The spike, it says, is being fuelled by intensifying conflicts, mass migration, and a weakening respect for international humanitarian law. Rules designed to prevent disappearances – such as keeping families together during evacuations, recording the fate of detainees, and accounting for the dead – are increasingly being ignored.
“When conflict parties adhere to humanitarian law, the likelihood of people going missing falls dramatically,” the report notes, adding that today’s figures point to a widespread failure to uphold these basic protections.
Despite the grim rise, the Red Cross’s Family Links Network achieved some breakthroughs last year, reuniting more than 7,000 families after tracing over 16,000 missing people. Its global network facilitated nearly 90,500 Red Cross messages and helped families make 2.3 million phone calls across borders torn apart by war, disaster, and displacement.
The organisation stresses that the responsibility to prevent disappearances rests with states and warring parties. Their handling of such cases, it warns, will shape peacebuilding, reconciliation and the long-term healing of communities long after conflict ends.
For families still searching, the torment of not knowing remains unbearable. The reported figures cover only those cases formally registered with the Red Cross – meaning the real number of missing people worldwide is likely to be far higher.
