Reference page · Updated October 13, 2026
A dated, source-led reference on America’s missing service members and the long work of accounting for them.
All figures below are drawn from named Defense Department sources. Counts reflect the date of the source, not a claim about any individual case.
A national obligation
Personnel accounting brings together archival research, field investigation, recovery, scientific identification, and family communication. The national figures help explain the scale of that responsibility. They do not reduce any individual service member to a statistic.
History Flight follows the same people-first discipline in its mission: Research the evidence, Recover with care, and help Repatriate service members through the path toward identification and homecoming.
01 · Missing personnel
More than 81,000The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency’s current public guidance describes this as an approximate count across World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War.
Source: DPAA FAQs, accessed October 202602 · Conflict breakdown
71,981That same Defense Department report listed 7,444 missing from the Korean War, 1,573 from the Vietnam War, and 126 from the Cold War, for 81,124 in total at that point in time.
Source: Department of Defense News, February 22, 202503 · Identifications
231DPAA reported 165 identifications from World War II, 58 from the Korean War, and eight from the Vietnam War, surpassing its congressional goal of 200 identifications for the year.
Source: DPAA, November 13, 202504 · Paths to answers
188DPAA also reported 15 identifications from recovery missions, 12 from unilateral turnovers, 11 from partner recovery missions, and five involving more than one pathway.
Source: DPAA, November 13, 202505 · Partnership capacity
100+DPAA reported that those partners had completed 250 field missions and started more than 100 research projects. The agency also described 25 foreign partners in its program.
Source: DPAA, August 21, 202406 · Families served
31,000+The February 2025 Defense Department report noted that these meetings give families a chance to discuss the latest information available about their individual cases with the accounting community.
Source: Department of Defense News, February 22, 2025How to read this page
This page uses official public material from the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and the Department of Defense. Some figures are intentionally approximate because the agencies themselves present them that way. Counts can change as cases move forward, so each statistic keeps its source date attached.
We will review this reference roughly monthly, or earlier when a primary source publishes a meaningful update. Stable section links above are retained so researchers, writers, and families can cite a specific figure without losing context.
Cite this reference
History Flight. “POW/MIA Accounting Statistics.” Updated October 13, 2026. https://historyflight.com/pow-mia-statistics
For a particular number, link to its numbered section above and include the source date shown with it.
The work behind the figures
Learn how History Flight follows evidence with care, or stand behind the work that helps carry a case toward homecoming.