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Missing migrants

Deaths and disappearances on migration routes

At least 7,667 people died or went missing on migration routes worldwide in 2025, about 21 people a day, according to the Missing Migrants Project of the International Organization for Migration. The total for 2024, nearly 9,200, is the highest annual total the project has recorded.

Worldwide · 2025

Annual deaths and disappearances worldwide, 2014 to 2025, drawn from the open Missing Migrants Project dataset as updated in late September 2026. Recent years are revised as late reports arrive, so the last bar can differ from the totals quoted in the text.

Annual deaths and disappearances worldwide, 2014 to 2025, drawn from the open Missing Migrants Project dataset as updated in late September 2026. Recent years are revised as late reports arrive, so the last bar can differ from the totals quoted in the text.

Chart by Fix Planet from Missing Migrants Project data of the International Organization for Migration, via the Humanitarian Data Exchange, licence Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/). Dataset page: https://data.humdata.org/dataset/missing-migrants-project-data

What it is

The Missing Migrants Project was started in 2014 by the International Organization for Migration to record people who die or go missing while moving towards an international destination, whatever their legal status. The project draws on a range of sources, and each entry in its dataset describes one incident: a date, a place and the number of people dead or missing. In February 2026 the organization reported at least 7,667 such deaths and disappearances in 2025. The project's open dataset lists about 86,100 deaths and disappearances from 2014 to September 2026.

Why it matters

Behind every number is a person, and usually a family. In its annual report of April 2026 the organization estimates that around 340,000 people are family members of someone who died or went missing during migration, a figure it describes as a minimum, and it considers it likely that most of these families are still searching for news. The organization says that better data help the humanitarian system to deliver life-saving help.

How to read it

The figure of 7,667 is a minimum that covers only the cases known by early 2026. Late reports raise totals: the annual report of April 2026 gives nearly 7,900 for 2025. About 21 a day is the yearly total divided by 365. The best comparison is 2024, with nearly 9,200, the highest annual total on record. The organization explains the fall in 2025 by fewer people attempting dangerous irregular routes, particularly in the Americas, and also by restricted access to information and funding constraints for the organisations that document deaths. The total alone does not show how much each cause contributed.

Limits

The count holds only deaths and disappearances that become known. Many happen on open sea or in remote desert, where bodies are not found and no one reports what happened. In 2025 at least 1,500 more people were reported missing at sea on routes to Europe, but their deaths could not be verified, so these cases come on top of the 7,667. The project counts people on the way to a country other than the one where they live. Deaths in immigration detention, after deportation, in refugee camps, and of people displaced inside their own country fall outside the count.

Sources