How many Bitcoins are lost and never going to be in circulation ?

[1Referee]

As the title state, how many Bitcoin are lost due to lost backups ?

There are several BTC addresses that contain atleast 40000 Bitcoins. But when you look at when the last transaction was made you can see that it was more than 1 year ago, or even in 2011.
Is that because of some one that lost his Bitcoins? Or just because he/she is trying to hide it from the IRS ? Or perhaps cold storage wallets that belong to large exchanges?

[bryant.coleman]

A comprehensive list has been already made. Just check this thread:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=7253.0

[redhawk979]

Everyone should just lose all their Bitcoins so the price goes up uP UP

[bryant.coleman]

Everyone should just lose all their Bitcoins so the price goes up uP UP

If a lot of people lose their coins, then they will get discouraged to use the currency. The price will go down, rather than going up.