Over the past few months, the project Lost in Europe has gathered data from various European countries, focusing on the disappearances of unaccompanied minors. Specifically, their analysis encompasses 2021, 2022, and 2023, categorising the missing minors by their country of origin, gender, and age.

Out of 28 EU countries, plus Moldova, Norway, the UK, and Switzerland, only 20 responded to their inquiries, and just 13 provided data. According to the available data, Italy has the highest number of registered missing unaccompanied minors, with 22,899, followed by Austria (20,077), Belgium (2,241), Germany (2,005), and Switzerland (1,226).

The number of missing children may be even higher because the data is often inconsistent and incomplete, and many countries in Europe do not even collect data on missing unaccompanied minors.

Previously, in 2021, Lost in Europe found that at least 18,000 unaccompanied minors had disappeared after arriving in Europe between 2018 and 2020. Their latest data in 2024 shows that the numbers have substantially increased.