Nearly 9,000 migrant deaths recorded last year by UN agency

Nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, the UN agency for migration has said.

The death toll set a new record for the fifth year in a row.

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) recorded at least 8,938 migrant deaths in 2024.

However, the real death toll is likely much higher given that many deaths go unreported or undocumented, the IOM said in a statement.

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

Asia was the region with the most reported fatalities with 2,788 migrant deaths, followed by the Mediterranean Sea with 2,452, and Africa with 2,242.

The IOM said there were also an “unprecedented 341 lives lost in the Caribbean”, 233 in Europe and 174 in the Darien crossing between Colombia and Panama, a new record.

News of the record death toll comes only days after the agency announced it was suspending many “life-saving” programmes around the world and firing hundreds of employees due to US-led aid cuts affecting millions of vulnerable migrants worldwide.