So many disappear in Stockholm in one year

In 2018, around 6600 people were reported missing in the Stockholm region. 1820 of these reports led to rescue efforts.

"It is mainly boys and men who disappear, except for the age of 7-14 - there are more girls," says police officer Bengt Gustavsson, who specializes in missing persons and who trains police and voluntary organizations.

According to statistics, those who disappear in different groups are reported - those who are likely to have committed crimes, those who are believed to have committed suicide, those who may have gone astray, people who have disappeared without trace and asylum seekers who leave Sweden without notifying the authorities.

When a person is reported missing, an assessment is made as to whether there is a danger to a person's life or health. Sometimes it can be a state rescue operation. Stockholm has about 20-30 such rescue efforts each year. Then the situation is deemed to be so severe that many different types of social assistance are called in.

- In about 95% of all state rescue services in the Stockholm region, people are demented, suicidal or depressed, says police Bengt Gustavsson.

According to the Police National Operations Department (NOA), there are 767 persons registered as still missing after 60 days, during the period 1951-01-01—2018-12-31. Of these, 196 are women.

440 missing persons do not have Swedish citizenship, and of them, it is likely that the majority are asylum seekers who have voluntarily departed. Thus, they have not disappeared in the proper sense of the word, but it does not rule out that they may have been subjected to crime.