IOM reported that nearly 8,000 migrants died on international routes during 2025

Published at: 22/04/2026 09:17 AM

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported in its annual report that almost 8,000 people lost their lives on migratory routes during the year 2025, a figure that contributes to a total of more than 80,000 documented victims since 2014.

The Missing Migrants Project, responsible for collecting these data, warned in a statement that these records represent only the minimum threshold of real impact, due to the inherent difficulties in accounting for disappearances in hard-to-reach areas or maritime routes.

The multilateral agency emphasized that the persistence of these deaths reflects a humanitarian crisis that requires immediate attention from governments involved in border management.

Although the number of victims last year remains at critical levels, the report highlights that the figure was lower than the 9,200 deaths reported during 2024. IOM experts attribute this variation to a reduction in the flow of people trying to cross irregular and highly dangerous routes, with a particular emphasis on the behavior of migratory movements within the American continent.

However, the agency clarified that this statistical decline does not necessarily imply that routes have become safer, but rather that it responds to changes in traffic patterns and in the intensity of regional travel.

Faced with this scenario, the institution described the situation as the aggravation of a global failure to prevent preventable deaths and urged the international community to take concrete actions to protect the lives of those who are on the move.

IOM insisted that the lack of legal and safe avenues pushes thousands of people into conditions of extreme vulnerability, where the risk of death is a constant. The organization stressed that migration management must prioritize human security and immediate assistance to curb a trend that has claimed tens of thousands of lives in the last decade.

The organization concluded that the documentation of these tragedies is an essential step in making visible a reality that is often left out of national political agendas. The need for more robust cross-border cooperation and mechanisms for searching for missing persons are presented as fundamental elements to address this problem in a comprehensive manner.

For IOM, achieving the goal of reducing deaths at the borders to zero remains the biggest and most urgent challenge, remembering that each number in its reports represents a human loss that could have been prevented by more humane and coordinated migration policies.

Mazo News Team