When you think of a missing person, what do you picture?

An abduction, a murder, a bushwalking misadventure – or perhaps someone with dementia who has wandered off and got lost?

Our assumptions about missing people can be accentuated by media attention, which often focuses on crime and on certain kinds of cases and people. One example is what researchers in the United States have called “missing white woman syndrome” – where media privileges stories about younger, middle-class white women who’ve gone missing unintentionally.

In Australia, police receive 50,000 reports about missing people each year – up from an annual average of 38,000 in the years between 2008–15. The reasons people go missing are complex and varied, and it’s not always an accident.

While 98% are found again, better understanding of who is most at risk of going missing, and why, will help prevent further harm.

Someone is considered missing when there are concerns about their safety and wellbeing and their current whereabouts are unknown. You may have heard someone has to be missing for 24 hours before police will accept a report – this is a myth.

Missing person cases exist on a continuum, from unintentional disappearances to intentional disappearances.

Unintentional cases are the ones most of us probably recognise best. These include travellers who get lost, people with dementia........

© The Conversation