In Australia one person goes missing every 15 minutes and those most at risk are young teenage girls, according to a recent report released by the Australian Institute of Criminology.
The Missing Person's in Australia Report, released last month, estimates that 35,000 people are reported missing each year. This is a rate of almost two people per 1000 Australians and is believed to be higher than that of road traffic accident deaths or suicide.
NSW topped the list with the largest number of missing people annually at 9788, followed by Queensland at 5768 and Victoria at 5584.
People disappear for various reasons. Some people go missing intentionally because they have made the decision that they need to spend time away from their normal lives. Some go missing involuntarily – like people with dementia, mental health problems or those involved in an accident, according to the report.
The good news, however, is that the vast majority of missing persons are found within a month of disappearing. Manager of the NSW Missing Person's Unit, Inspector Mark McCallum, estimates that over 99.7 per cent turn up on their own.
Missing people are often classified in groups of high, medium and low risk categories, says Inspector McCallum.
"Person rates as high based on their age, circumstances of them going missing, if they are mentally ill or suffering from dementia, or if they are missing in areas around cliffs and previously expressed suicidal thought," says Inspector McCallum.
It is difficult to establish true numbers of missing people in Australia, as thousands of cases go unreported each year. However, the picture painted by the recent report is of a growing problem and one that is affecting younger populations.
Police data indicates that over one half of the reported cases per year involve young people, with females consistently outnumbering males. The 13 to 15-year-olds were at the highest risk of running away, while those living in foster care were especially vulnerable.
Ironically the highest represented group of teenage females ranks as "low risk", says Inspector McCallum, as they often tend to turn up "safe and sound" within a few days of their disappearance.
The teenagers, he explains, "go missing because of family issues, or peer pressure or wanting to be with friends or rebelling". Other reasons include mental health issues or drug and alcohol problems.
When it comes to prevention, education and awareness are the key, believes Inspector McCallum.
"Educating the community as a whole…to be able to say, look that person has mental problems, has suicidal tendencies or thoughts, lets do something before that person goes missing or suicides or just falls of the planet," he comments.
And although he agrees that "prevention is better than cure", he also sees many challenges.
"If you were to go into school…well kids don't believe that they go missing. Like a teenage girl does not identify as going missing…when they are usually at a friend's place".
Another big challenge is identity falsification. Inspector McCallum points to the lack of ID requirements for people who simply chose not to interact in the society and hence "disappear from the system".
Recent highly publicised cases such as that of Cornelia Row, who was detained in a Queensland jail for over six months after failing to provide consistent identification, has prompted a more nationalised, as opposed to state specific, approach to tracking missing people in Australia
The initiative called Crim-Tracks allows easier tracking across the country. Now, if a person goes missing in NSW and then turns up in Victoria, identification will be made faster.
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