Brussels, 24 June 2026 – Missing Children Europe (MCE) today published its 2025 Figures & Trends report, the only annual EU-wide dataset on missing children, drawing on cases reported through the 116 000 hotline network across Europe. The report documents 7,881 missing children cases reported to missing children hotlines in 22 countries and provides critical insights into the circumstances, vulnerabilities, and risks faced by children who go missing. More than a decade after a report commissioned by the European Parliament estimated that 250,000 children go missing each year in the EU, Europe still lacks comprehensive, publicly available data on how many children children disappear every year, what happens to them while missing, and whether they are found safely. In this context of absence of data on the full scale of the issue, MCE’s Figures & Trends report remains an essential source of evidence for strengthening child protection systems and informing policy and prevention efforts across Europe.
The 2025 Figures & Trends report documents 7,881 missing children cases recorded by the 116 000 hotlines across 22 countries. It finds that approximately one in four children had experienced violence or abuse before or during their disappearance. More than half of cases (58%) involved children running away from home. Far from being isolated incidents, many of these disappearances were linked to physical, emotional, or sexual violence, underlining the need for earlier identification of risk and stronger preventive action.
For missing migrant children, the data gaps are even more concerning. Although 464 cases (6%) were recorded through the 116 000 hotline network, fragmented reporting, limited cross-border cooperation, and uneven awareness of support services mean that many cases never reach the hotlines. As a result, many children remain invisible to protection systems and are at heightened risk of trafficking and exploitation.
Online grooming cases present a similar challenge. Only 92 cases were recorded, yet the true scale remains unknown due to inconsistent identification and reporting practices across countries. These findings, also highlighted at MCE’s Annual Conference on Safeguarding Missing Children: Sexual Violence and Mental Health Resilience, underline the need for more harmonised approaches to data collection.
Fragmented data systems, inconsistent information-sharing between authorities and hotlines, and uneven reporting practices across countries continue to limit understanding of missing children in Europe and weaken prevention efforts. Recent progress at EU level to strengthen child protection and digital safety frameworks is therefore a welcome step forward. This includes Monday’s provisional agreement between the European Parliament and the Council on strengthening EU rules on child sexual abuse and exploitation, expanding criminal offences, increasing penalties, and improving support and access to justice for victims.
To ensure these efforts translate into effective protection, MCE’s work with the 116 000 hotline network focuses on strengthening the systematic and disaggregated recording of children’s vulnerabilities, improving the visibility and use of hotlines in missing children cases, and reinforcing cooperation with law enforcement. Procedures such as return home interviews can further support this approach by helping assess a child’s environment, level of safety, and exposure to violence, enabling more tailored and timely protection responses.
MCE’s Annual Review 2025 highlights progress in advocacy, research, and the strengthening of the 116 000 hotline network. But one message emerges clearly from this year’s findings, says Secretary General Aagje Ieven:
“Europe cannot fully protect children it cannot see. Closing the data gaps on missing children is essential to ensure that policy commitments are translated into effective and timely protection for children across Europe.”
Press Enquiries
Patricia Morais, Senior Communications Officer at Missing Children Europe, patricia.morais@missingchildreneurope.eu
Notes to Editors
The network of missing children hotlines is operated by national organisations in 33 countries in Europe. Children and families calling the 116 000 European hotline for missing children receive free and immediate emotional, psychological, social, legal, and administrative support 24/7. They also provide a vital central contact and coordination point for cases that are cross-border.
About Missing Children Europe
Missing Children Europe is the European federation for missing and sexually exploited children, connecting 33 organisations from 27 European countries committed to prevent that children go missing and to protect them from any violence, abuse or exploitation that leads to or results from going missing.