Over the last ten years, Delhi has reported more than 1.8 lakh missing children, and shockingly, over 50,000 of them remain untraced. The data from Delhi Police shows that while many missing children are eventually found, thousands remain missing.
Between the years 2015 to 2025, a total of 1.84 lakh children were reported missing across the city. Of these, around 1.33 lakh were traced, but 50,771 are still missing. This means roughly one out of every three missing child cases is yet to be solved.
The highest number of missing cases was recorded in 2019, with 18,063 children reported missing. The numbers remained high in 2023 and 2024, with 18,197 and 19,047 cases respectively. The only noticeable drop came in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown, when movement restrictions led to a lower number of cases, at 13,647 for the year.
When it comes to gender, the data shows that more girls have gone missing than boys every single year. From 2015 to 2025, 98,036 girls were reported missing compared to 86,368 boys. Out of these, 70,696 girls have been traced, but more than 27,000 are still missing.
These cases primarily involve teenagers; around 82% of the total involve children aged between 12 and 18 years. In 2025 alone, 4,167 missing teenagers were reported, and about three-fourths of them were girls. So far, only about 69% of these cases have seen recovery.
Younger children, however, have higher recovery rates. Among children aged 0 to 8 years, there were 5,503 cases in the past decade, with 84% traced. For the 8 to 12 age group, there were 6,494 cases, with 92% solved.
In the first ten months of 2025 alone, Delhi has already seen 14,828 children reported missing. Of them, 7,443 have been traced, but 7,385 are still unaccounted for. This means nearly half of the children reported missing this year have not yet been found. Despite ongoing efforts by the police and awareness programs, the growing number of missing children remains a major concern for the city.
