In 2025, Around 8,000 Migrants Died or Went Missing on Their Journeys Around the World
The UN migration agency said on Thursday that at least 7,667 people died or went missing on migration routes around the world in 2025. They warned that the real number is probably higher and called the continuous losses a “global failure.”
According to IOM figures, at least 2,108 people died trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Africa to Europe in 2025. Another 1,047 people died or were missing trying to reach Spain’s Canary Islands. There have already been “an unprecedented number of migrant deaths” in the first two months of 2026. As of Tuesday, 606 people had died trying to cross the Mediterranean.
IOM Director General Amy Pope emphasized that “these deaths are not inevitable” and called for safer legal routes. Funding cuts to assistance groups, crackdowns on humanitarian NGOs, and limited access to data are making it harder to keep track of things accurately. In the last two weeks, the bodies of 23 persons have washed up on the southern coastlines of Italy and Libya. “Hundreds more are missing at sea and cannot be confirmed yet.
Fewer people are crossing into the Americas. The number of deaths worldwide has gone down since 2024, in part because fewer people are trying to cross perilous routes. The US-Mexico border and the Darien jungle had the fewest deaths (409) since 2014.
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