We're seeing more reports of that phenomenon as time goes on - it was first reported in beta test. Could you please post as many details as you can remember about your game and what you were doing when the villagers disappeared? This isn't a very nice bug, and it would sure be great to fix it - but Arthur needs details to narrow down his bug hunt.
Also do you have any babies? That could account for the difference between what the population on the map shows and your villager details. Babies are counted as villagers on the overview map, but don't have details screens until they become toddlers.
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Barbara
Unicorn
Last Day of Work