Japan's National Police Agency says that more than 18,700 people in the country with dementia or suspected of having dementia were reported missing during 2022.

The NPA says the number of reported cases of the missing has kept increasing over the years since comparable statistics became available in 2012. The figure has almost doubled in a decade, reaching 18,709 in 2022.

Many of those people were reported missing after they had wandered aimlessly due to dementia.

The agency also says 491 of those people who had been reported missing in the years before 2022 were confirmed dead last year, with traffic accidents the cause in some cases. People who were found alive later amounted to 17,923.

The agency says it will step up cooperation with local governments to find the missing as soon as possible.

Some local governments are asking family members of people with dementia or suspected of having dementia to have them carry GPS devices.

Other local governments are asking such families to attach on clothing small patches with QR codes printed with contact information.