At least 7,667 people died or went missing on migration routes worldwide in 2025, according to new data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The figures underscore the continued global scale of the crisis faced by people on the move. IOM is calling for the dismantling of smuggling networks that exploit migrants and put lives at risk.
"The continued loss of life on migration routes is a global failure we cannot accept as normal," said IOM Director General Amy Pope. "These deaths are not inevitable. When safe pathways are out of reach, people are forced into dangerous journeys and into the hands of smugglers and traffickers. We must act now to expand safe and regular routes, and ensure people in need can be reached and protected, regardless of their status."
While lower than the nearly 9,200 deaths recorded in 2024, the decline reflects fewer people attempting dangerous irregular migration routes, particularly in the Americas, but is also due to restricted access to information and funding constraints for humanitarian actors documenting migrant deaths on key routes. IOM is calling for urgent funding to strengthen data collection to better guide the humanitarian system in delivering life-saving responses.
Sea crossings remained among the deadliest routes. In 2025, at least 2,185 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean, while 1,214 were recorded on the Western Africa/Atlantic route toward the Canary Islands. Despite year-on-year declines, the real toll is likely higher, as at least 1,500 additional people were reported missing at sea but could not be verified due to limited access to search-and-rescue information.
Though evidence on these "invisible shipwrecks" is scarce, at least 270 human remains washed ashore on Mediterranean coasts in 2025 without being linked to known shipwrecks, and three vessels carrying the remains of 42 people were later found drifting to Brazil and the Caribbean after attempting the Canary Islands crossing.
The increasing restriction of search and rescue information on sea routes to Europe has meant that an exceptionally high number of cases could not be verified.
This concerning trend continues into 2026. The Mediterranean is seeing an unprecedented number of migrant deaths in the first two months of 2026, with 606 recorded as of 24 February. Over the same timeframe, arrivals in Italy decreased from 6,358 to 2,465 (a 61per cent decrease). Yet there are reports of hundreds more missing at sea that cannot yet be verified. In the last two weeks alone, 23 human remains have been washed up on southern Italian and Libyan coasts.
In the Americas, 409 deaths were recorded in 2025, the lowest annual total since IOM began collecting data in 2014. This is likely due to fewer people taking dangerous irregular pathways, such as crossing the Darien Jungle or the US-Mexico border. However, lags in reporting from officials means that the figures for 2025 in the Americas likely will not be finalized until mid-2026.
Asia and the Eastern Route - from the Horn of Africa to and from Yemen and Gulf countries - have driven another deadly year for people on the move. More than 3,000 deaths were recorded during migration in Asia, making 2025 the deadliest year on record for migrants along this route for the third consecutive year. This trend is due to a high number of deaths of Afghans fleeing their home country, with 1,540 reported dead.
The Eastern route also saw a marked increase, with 922 deaths recorded, compared to 558 in 2024. Almost all of those who died on this route in 2025 were Ethiopian, many of whom lost their lives in three mass shipwrecks that claimed more than 180 lives each.
The persistence of these deaths reflects the growing reach of trafficking and migrant smuggling networks that continue to exploit desperation along migration routes, exposing people to violence, abuse, and life-threatening journeys. Governments and partners must urgently scale up coordinated search-and-rescue operations to prevent further loss of life, strengthen international cooperation to dismantle criminal networks, and expand safe and regular migration pathways so people are not forced into the hands of smugglers.
Saving lives at sea and along land routes must remain a shared global responsibility, one that demands sustained political will, resources, and protection-centered policies to ensure migration is safer, more orderly, and more humane.
