Abstract Preventing and responding to missing incidents is a worldwide challenge, with millions of people reported missing each year. Understanding the characteristics of this population has important implications for informing effective responses. To date, most research primarily originates from UK police samples with limited contributions from European and international countries. This narrow evidence base limits our understanding of whether missing pathways are universal or shaped by country-specific contexts. For countries such as Greece, context may be a particularly important consideration given its unique position as a tourist, commercial, and migratory nexus between Europe and other continents. Accordingly, the present study explores the demographic (gender, age, nationality) and case-related (history of missing episodes, locating outcomes) characteristics of missing people in Greece and whether these characteristics are linked to vulnerabilities and associated factors for going missing. Analysis of Hellenic Police records between January 2021-June 2024 ( N = 9,054) highlights that most incidents involve single-episode adult Greek males who were located alive, with adolescents (15–17) comprising the largest single age group. Patterns in the Greek context align with international evidence in adult male predominance, adolescent vulnerability, and mental-health associations. Conversely, they diverge in the disproportionate involvement of children as abduction victims, a comparatively lower repeat episode rate, female over-representation in hospital absconding, and nationality-based vulnerabilities. This highlights the need for careful consideration before assuming universality in the characteristics of those who go missing across countries. Implications for police decision-making and directions for future research are discussed.
Chatzisymeonidis et al. (Wed,) studied this question.