More than 21,000 women and children went missing in Nepal in the past seven years, an alarmingly large number in a country of 27 million people, said police on Friday.

"It is worrisome that the trend of is soaring up for the past several years," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) and police spokesperson Nabraj Silwal told Xinhua.

According to data compiled by Nepal Police, an average of eight women and children go missing every day. As for women, the situation is more common among the age group of 16 to 25.

In fiscal year 2006-07, 2,813 women and children went missing, while in 2012-13, this number rose to 3,079. In this seven-year period, a total of 24,694 women and children go missing, of which 3,625 were later found and the remaining 21,069 are still unaccounted for.

Among those still missing, 13,566 are women, 5,549 are boys and 4,759 are girls.

"There are many reasons for this problem. Family conflicts including domestic violence, economic deprivation and human trafficking are some of the key reasons," said Silwal.

According to anti-trafficking social organizations, hundreds of Nepalese women are trafficked every year to the brothels of Mumbai and Kolkata, among other cities in India.

Anti-trafficking cells have been set up in major border crossing points of Nepal and India, including the border cities of Birgunj, Nepalgunj and Biratnagar, but the trend of trafficking has not seen a significant decrease.