Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on February 26, 2026
2 min readLast updated: February 26, 2026
IOM reports 7,667 deaths or disappearances on migration routes in 2025, likely an undercount amid funding cuts. Sea crossings were deadliest, and 2026 already shows a grim trend with 606 Mediterranean deaths by Feb 24.
By Amina Ismail
BRUSSELS - Feb 26 (Reuters) - 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 published on Thursday.
"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. We must act now to expand safe and regular routes and ensure people in need can be protected, regardless of their status."
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, the IOM said.
The Geneva‑based organisation is among several aid groups hit by major U.S. funding cuts, forcing it to scale back or close programmes in ways it says will severely impact migrants.
Sea routes remained among the most lethal journeys, with at least 2,108 people dead or missing in the Mediterranean last year and 1,047 on the Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands, the agency said.
Some 3,000 migrant deaths were recorded in Asia, more than half of them Afghans, and 922 died crossing the Horn of Africa from Yemen to the Gulf States, in a sharp increase on the previous year. Almost all of them were Ethiopians, many of whom died in three mass shipwrecks.
The trend has continued into 2026, with migrant deaths in the Mediterranean reaching 606 by February 24, the IOM added.
(Reporting by Amina Ismail; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
The article covers the IOM’s finding that at least 7,667 people died or went missing on global migration routes in 2025, with the UN agency warning the real number is higher due to funding cuts and limited access.
Cuts to humanitarian funding have reduced monitoring and access along key routes, making it harder to verify incidents and track fatalities, especially in remote or conflict-affected areas.
Sea routes were the deadliest, including the Mediterranean and the Atlantic route to Spain’s Canary Islands, alongside high tolls in Asia and the Horn of Africa.
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