A study conducted by the IOM’s Missing Migrants project looked into the trends of migrant deaths since 2013, shedding light on the harrowing realities refugees face in their efforts to escape their conflict-ridden homes.

In 2023, 8,542 people are known to have died or disappeared during migration, the highest figure recorded in any year in the past decade. This marks a 20% global increase in migrant deaths over the 7,141 deaths recorded in 2022.

Year-to-year, 2023 saw an increase in deaths across the Mediterranean, Africa, and Asia, with an unprecedented number of lives lost across the latter two regions, the report reads.

One of the notable findings of this research is that more than one-third of migrant deaths whose country of origin could be identified came from countries in conflict or with large refugee populations, highlighting the dangers faced by those attempting to flee conflict zones without safe pathways.

However, of those migrants whose countries can be identified, Afghan was the nationality with the most documented deaths.

Within the decade between, 2013 and 2023, the project has recorded 63,000 migrant deaths across the globe, a ridiculously large number that is increasing despite increased efforts at curbing it.

The study further illustrated the sheer amount of unidentified deaths, with over two-thirds of deceased migrants documented in the MMP dataset having incomplete information on their country of origin.

“It is likely that for each one of these tens of thousands of unidentified people, there is a family that faces the ambiguous loss of their loved one and the profound psychological, social, economic, and legal impacts that come with an unresolved disappearance.”

What do you make of these numbers?