GETTY Germany registered 60,000 unaccompanied child refugees with 4,750 listed as missing in January

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Germany registered 60,000 unaccompanied child refugees with 4,750 listed as missing in January. That has now spiked to more than 8,600 cases, including hundreds of children under 14 years, according to the interior ministry. Most of the youngsters come from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Morocco and Algeria.

While officials are hoping ta paperwork backlog will eventually bring some of the children back on the official radar, statistics suggest many will never be found. In 2013 and 2014 the majority of those who arrived and then disappeared turned up. But last year only a quarter of those reported missing were found again.

GETTY In 2013 and 2014 the majority of those who arrived and then disappeared turned up

GETTY Most of the youngsters come from Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Eritrea, Morocco and Algeria

Experts assume the number of missing in reality is lower, due to many double and triple registrations because so many refugees have no passports. But according to officials there is yet another reason why so many are unaccounted for and that is because there has been no uniform system of registration of unaccompanied minors. Tobias Klaus of the Federal Association of UMF, which promotes the rights of unaccompanied minor refugees said: "The number of young people reported missing would go dramatically down if there is a Germany-wide system to merge minor refugees with relatives and caregivers."

GETTY German authorities have now admitted that nearly 9,000 children are now unaccounted for

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