A post claiming that 17.49 lakh women have gone missing in the 11 years of Narendra Modi as PM, averaging to 441 every single day, is going viral on social media platforms (here, here, here, and here). Through this article, let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: 17.49 lakh women went missing over an 11-year period (2014–2025) under Modi as PM.
Fact: The claim that 17.49 lakh women went missing over the 11-year period from 2014 to 2025 under Modi’s regime is incorrect. According to NCRB data, approximately 16.1 lakh females were reported missing between 2016 and 2022, the majority of whom were subsequently traced. By the end of 2022, the year for which official data is available, around 2.3 lakh girls and women who had gone missing remained untraced. This figure includes females reported missing in previous years, including those before 2014. Hence the claim made in the post is MISLEADING.
To verify the authenticity and origin of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. This search led us to a post (archived) on X, in which a user asked the Twitter AI chatbot “Grok” about the number of missing females in India from May 2014 to 10 July 2025. In response (archived), Grok stated that, according to NCRB data (via Factly), 1,749,000 females were reported missing in India between 2016 and 2021, with the number rising from 174,000 in 2016 to 265,000 in 2021. For 2022, it estimated approximately 283,000 based on trends. By extrapolating the data for the period from May 2014 to July 2025 (prorating partial years at an average of ~300,000 per year), Grok arrived at a total of approximately 2.7 million. It also noted that over 50% of those reported missing are typically traced, with many returning voluntarily.
To further investigate the source of this response, we interacted directly with Grok and asked where it had obtained the figure of 1,749,000 missing females between 2016 and 2021. Grok responded that the figure was referenced from an article by Factly, titled “Data: Around 2/3rd of Persons Reported as Missing in India Are Female. More Than 50% of All Missing Persons Are Reported Traced,” published on 18 May 2023. In its reply, Grok acknowledged that the figure of 1,749,000 might be inaccurate. It stated that, “Upon reviewing the Factly article and cross-referencing with the latest NCRB data (available up to 2022 in the public domain, with 2023-2025 estimates based on trends), there appears to be a potential discrepancy in my initial X post. The 1,749,000 figure for 2016-2021 seems to be an aggregate derived from NCRB’s annual reports, but the exact summation in the Factly article suggests a slightly lower range (e.g., approximately 1.5-1.6 million when aggregating reported cases year by year). The difference likely arises from my extrapolation method and the inclusion of untraced cases carried over from previous years, which the NCRB tracks separately. In my follow-up post (ID: 1943931588993294614), I revised the estimate upward to ~4.9 million, reflecting a broader interpretation of trends and user feedback, which may have overstated the figure”.
In the article “Around 2/3rd of Persons Reported as Missing in India Are Female. More Than 50% of All Missing Persons Are Reported Traced”, published by us, it was nowhere mentioned that 1,749,000 females were reported missing in India from 2016 to 2021.
According to NCRB data, a total of 20.36 lakh persons were reported missing in the six years from 2016 to 2021. On average, 3.4 lakh people were reported missing each year — which equates to approximately 930 persons every day or 39 persons every hour during this period.
Furthermore, the number of persons reported missing rose from 2.9 lakh in 2016 to nearly 3.9 lakh in 2021, registering a 34% increase. Females constituted the majority of these missing persons. From a share of 60% in 2016, the proportion of females among all missing persons increased to over 68% in both 2020 and 2021. The number of females reported missing rose by nearly 53%, from 1.74 lakh in 2016 to 2.65 lakh in 2021.
Subsequently, we checked the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) and examined its annual ‘Crime in India’ reports for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2022. (Data on missing persons is unavailable before 2016, and the latest available report is ‘Crime in India 2022’.)
NCRB also records the number of females (women and girls) traced each year. According to the NCRB reports, In 2016, a total of 1,74,021 females were reported missing. By the end of that year, 1,39,858 missing females were traced, including those reported in previous years. 1,74,816 females remained untraced by the end of 2016. In 2017, 1,88,382 females were reported missing. Of these, 1,21,717 were traced in the same year, while 78,640 were traced from previous years. By the end of 2017, 1,60,594 females remained untraced.
In 2018, a total of 2,23,621 females were reported missing. Of these, 1,43,750 were traced within the same year, while 66,102 females who had gone missing in previous years were also traced. However, 1,74,833 females remained untraced by the end of 2018.
In 2019, a total of 2,48,937 females were reported missing. Of these, 1,62,939 were traced within the same year, while 60,010 females who had gone missing in previous years were also traced. However, 1,99,490 females remained untraced by the end of 2019.
In 2020, a total of 2,22,395 females were reported missing. Of these, 1,52,020 were traced within the same year, while 72,023 females who had gone missing in previous years were also traced and 1,99,612 females remained untraced by the end of 2020.
In 2021, a total of 2,65,481 females were reported missing. Of these, 1,90,421 were traced within the same year, while 70,857 females who had gone missing in previous years were also traced. However, 2,03,893 females remained untraced by the end of 2021.
In 2022, a total of 2,93,500 females were reported missing. Of these, 2,04,665 were traced within the same year, while 61,585 females who had gone missing in previous years were also traced. However, 2,31,143 females remained untraced by the end of 2022 (This figure includes females reported missing in previous years, including those before 2014). NCRB data indicates that approximately 16.1 lakh females were reported missing between 2016 and 2022, with the majority of them subsequently traced.
To sum it up, by the end of 2022, around 2.3 lakh girls and women who had gone missing remained untraced. This figure includes females reported missing in previous years, including those before 2014.
