Photo credit: Euro News
Nearly 8,000 people died or disappeared on migration routes in 2025, with sea routes to Europe the most deadly, according to the United Nations.
Al Jazeera reports that the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said many of the victims were lost in “invisible shipwrecks,” as it released new figures in a report on Tuesday.
The figure of 7,904 people that the UN counted as died or missing in 2025 constituted a fall from the all-time high of 9,197 in 2024, the IOM said in its report. However, it added that the drop was partly due to 1,500 suspected cases that went unverified due to aid cuts.
Total deaths since 2014 exceed 82,000, with about 340,000 family members estimated to have been directly affected.
More than four in every 10 deaths and disappearan;ces occurred on sea routes to Europe, the IOM said.
“In Europe, overall arrivals declined, but the profile of movements changed, with Bangladeshi nationals becoming the largest group arriving while Syrian arrivals fell following political and policy shifts,” the report reads.
The West African route northwards accounted for 1,200 deaths, while Asia reported a record number of deaths, including hundreds of Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar or misery in crowded refugee camps in Bangladesh.
The organization stressed that the data showed migration routes “are shifting rather than easing, with risks remaining high along increasingly dangerous journeys”
