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There is little reliable national data on the number of young people who run away or are homeless each year.
Estimates of the number of runaway and homeless youth vary:
The National Network for Youth suggests that approximately 1 to 1.3 million young people run away from home each year.
The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), U.S. Department of Justice, reported that there were 446,700 "broad scope runaways" from households in 1988 (broad scope was defined as children who left home without permission and stayed away overnight).
The OJJDP further reported that there were an estimated 127,100 "broad scope thrownaways" in 1988. (The study leaders defined this term as any of the following situations: (1) the child had been directly told to leave the household; (2) the child had been away from home and a caretaker refused to allow the child back; (3) the child had run away, but the caretaker made no effort to recover the child or did not care whether or not the child returned; or (4) the child had been abandoned or deserted. In all four cases, the child had to be out of the house for at least one night). (Missing, Abducted, Runaway, and Thrownaway Children in America, First Report: Numbers and Characteristics, National Incidence Studies, Washington, D.C.: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice, May 1990).
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