Of the number, 979 were found while 824 are still missing.

Deputy Home Minister Masir Kujat said the number had increased compared to 2015 when 1,782 went missing, 1,563 were found and 219 are still missing.

In 2014, a total of 2,015 people were reported missing, 1,959 were traced and 56 remain missing. In 2013, 2,054 people were reported missing with 2,026 people found and 28 still missing.

From 2013 to 2016, it was revealed that the main cause of teenagers running away from home was to seek freedom (4,188 cases), to follow friends (1,330 cases), to follow lovers (1,025 cases), family misunderstandings (715 cases), lack of interest in studies (150 cases ), seeking employment (101 cases), custody disputes (64 cases) and lack of family attention (81 cases).

Masir was responding to a question from Izani Husin (PAS-Pengkalan Chepa), who wanted to know the statistics on children and teenagers running away from home from 2013 to 2016.

Masir said the problem of runaway teenagers and children could be solved if parents monitored their children’s movements and friends, and forbade them from going out with strangers.

He said parents should also monitor their children’s digital use and interactions on social media platforms such as Facebook, WeChat, WhatsApp and YouTube as they could be easily influenced.

To steer them away from unhealthy cultures, he said, parents should emphasise religious and moral education.

He said in terms of gender, 1,222 female children and teenagers went missing last year compared to 581 male children and teenagers.

From 2013 to 2016, 65 cases involved children aged six and below; 297 involved those aged seven to 12; 3,959 involved those aged 13 to 15; and 3,333 involved those aged 16 to 18.

In terms of racial composition, 5,123 cases involved Malays, 528 involved Chinese, 758 involved Indians and 1,245 involved other races.