Last year, about 9,000 people died while attempting to cross borders, according to the United Nations Migration Agency.
For the fifth year in a row, the death toll surpassed the previous record. Since 2020, the number of deaths along migration routes has more than doubled.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported 8,938 migrant deaths in 2024. The true death toll is likely far higher, as many deaths go unrecorded or unrecognized, according to an IOM statement issued on Friday.
“The rise in deaths is terrible in and of itself, but the fact that thousands remained unidentified each year is even more tragic,” Julia Black, coordinator of the IOM’s Missing Migrants Project, said in a statement.
Ugochi Daniels, the IOM’s deputy director general for operations, stated: “The increase in deaths across so many regions of the world shows why we need an international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life.”
“Behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating,” according to him.
