About 96,000 people nationwide disappeared from their homes last year, the first time in four years the figure has dipped to below the 100,000 mark, the National Police Agency said Thursday.

The agency said, however, that the figure increased for people over 60 years old.

Police received requests from relatives and other people to search for 95,989 missing people last year, down 5.8 percent from 2003, the NPA said.

By sex, men accounted for 61,276, or 63.8 percent, of the missing, and women for 34,713, or 36.2 percent.