BRUSSELS: Almost 8,000 people died or went missing last year on perilous migration routes such as across the Mediterranean and Horn of Africa, but the real toll is likely far higher as cuts in funding have hit humanitarian access and tracking of deaths, a U.N. agency said.
Legal pathways for migration are shrinking, pushing more people into the hands of smugglers, the International Organization for Migration said, as Europe, the U.S. and other regions ramp up enforcement and invest heavily in deterrence.
“The continued loss of life on migration routes is a global failure we cannot accept as normal,” IOM Director General Amy Pope said in a statement.
“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.”
Although deaths along migration routes fell to 7,667 in 2025 from nearly 9,200 in 2024 as fewer people attempted dangerous irregular journeys — particularly across the Americas — the decline reflects shrinking access to information and funding shortfalls that have hampered efforts to track fatalities, it said.