Over 72,000 Migrants Dead or Missing Since 2014: UN

The United Nations reported on Tuesday that more than 72,000 deaths and disappearances of migrants have been recorded along global migration routes since 2014, with the majority occurring in crisis-affected regions.

In 2023, the migrant death toll reached its highest point on record, with at least 8,938 people losing their lives during their journeys, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“These numbers tragically highlight the peril migrants face when insecurity, lack of opportunities, and other pressures force them to risk their lives,” said IOM Director General Amy Pope in a statement.

The IOM’s report revealed that nearly 75% of all migrant fatalities and disappearances since 2014 occurred as people fled from conflict, insecurity, and disasters.

A quarter of these deaths were from countries grappling with humanitarian crises. Thousands of Afghan, Rohingya, and Syrian migrants have lost their lives while attempting to flee to safety, the IOM’s Missing Migrants Report showed.

More than 52,000 of these deaths occurred in the 40 countries under the UN’s crisis or humanitarian response plans.

Pope emphasized the need for international investment in stability and opportunities within communities, urging that migration should be a choice, not a necessity. She further stressed the importance of creating safe, legal, and orderly migration pathways to protect lives when staying in one’s home country is no longer an option.

The Central Mediterranean remains the deadliest route, with nearly 25,000 people dying at sea over the past decade. More than 12,000 of these deaths occurred after migrants departed from war-torn Libya, with many others vanishing while crossing the Sahara Desert.

More than 5,000 migrants from Afghanistan died while attempting to flee the country, particularly after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021. Additionally, over 3,100 Rohingya people lost their lives, many of them in shipwrecks or during their dangerous journey to Bangladesh.

“Too often, migrants fall through the cracks,” warned Julia Black, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project coordinator and report author. “Due to data gaps, especially in conflict zones and disaster areas, the true death toll is likely much higher than what has been recorded,” she added.