"Yes, and in reality this number is even slightly higher," Johannes Dimroth told reporters, commenting on the issue.
According to the Interior Ministry, out of 8,006 youngster declared missing, 2,171 people were found. The majority of the missing minors have arrived in Germany unaccompanied from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Morocco and Algeria.
Spokeswoman for the German Family Affairs Ministry Verena Herb said that discrepancies between estimated and actual number of minor refugee arrivals could be among the reasons for the shortage. Herb added that the minors could have fell into the hands of criminals.
In late January, the EU law enforcement agency Europol said that about 10,000 unaccompanied refugee children disappeared after arriving in Europe over the past two years.
