Last year was the deadliest on record for migrants on global routes with at least 8,938 deaths according to data collected by the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), the UN’s migration agency.

The 2024 toll continues a five-year upward trend of more deaths each year and last year’s toll tops the previous record in 2023, when 8,747 migrant deaths were recorded. 

And it comes despite a new initiative launched by the UN last year to reduce the number of deaths.

IOM Deputy Director General for Operations Ugochi Daniels said the death were preventable.

“The tragedy of the growing number of migrant deaths worldwide is both unacceptable and preventable. Behind every number is a human being, someone for whom the loss is devastating,” Ms Daniels said.

“The increase in deaths across so many regions in the world shows why we need an international, holistic response that can prevent further tragic loss of life.”   

As well as globally, 2024 was the deadliest year on record across most regions in the world, including in Asia (2,778 people recorded dead), Africa (2,242) and Europe (233).

The 2,452 deaths documented in the Mediterranean Sea in 2024 are not the largest annual total ever.

The large number shows the need for adequate search and rescue systems as well as the need for safe and regular migration routes as alternatives to this risky journey, IOM said.  

Final data is not yet in for the Americas, but at least 1,233 deaths occurred in 2024, including an unprecedented 341 lives lost in the Caribbean in 2024 and a record 174 deaths of migrants crossing the Darién Gap.  

Across the world, deaths due to violence remained prevalent for people on the move. Since 2022, at least 10 per cent of all migrant deaths recorded occurred because of violence.

In 2024, this was due in large part to violence against those in transit in Asia, with nearly 600 lives lost on migration routes across South and South-eastern Asia. 

The actual number of migrant deaths and disappearances is likely much higher, as many have gone undocumented because of the lack of official sources, IOM said.

Also, the identities and demographic characteristics of the majority of people who have died or gone missing are unknown. 

“The rise in deaths is terrible in and of itself, but the fact that thousands remain unidentified each year is even more tragic,” said Julia Black, coordinator of IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.

“Beyond the despair and unresolved questions faced by families who have lost a loved one, the lack of more complete data on risks faced by migrants hinders lifesaving responses,” she said.  

Last year, the UN launched an initiative aimed at reducing migrant deaths following a then record 8,600 deaths in 2023.

The initiative is described in recommendations made in the 2024 report on the implementation of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM).

They include the need to provide access to humanitarian actors to deliver assistance to those in distress and improve data collection about those who are missing.

The GCM report is issued every two years and highlights progress, gaps and opportunities, offering concrete recommendations to advance commitments and improve migration governance.   

Since 2014, close to 80,000 migrant deaths and disappearances have been recorded.