In the US, there were 117,200 family abduction cases in 1999
(Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.)

Most victims are children ranging between the ages of 2 and 11. Half involved unauthorised takings and half involved failure to return the child after an authorised visit or stay. 75% were transported across state borders and possibly 10% across international borders.

Estimated number of children who were abducted by a member of family in USA in 1999 Source: National Estimates of Missing Children: An Overview, Sedlak, Finkelhor, Hammer and Schultz, NISMART, October 2002.
Episode Type	Estimated Total	95% Confidence Interval*	%	Rate per 1,000 children in the US population (Total no. children = 70,172,700)
Family abduction	117,200	(79,000-155,400)	9	1.67
Family abduction - reported	56,500	(22,600-90,400)	7	0.81
Notes: All estimates are rounded to the nearest 100. * indicates that if the study were repeated 100 times, 95% of the replications would produce estimates within the given ranges.

In the UK there are no detailed statistics. Even so, according to Newiss and Fairbrother (Child Abduction. Understanding police recorded crime statistics, Home Office, 2004.) there has been a 45% increase in the number of child abductions in the past year.

Extent of the Problem