Nearly 9,000 deaths have been confirmed worldwide, but the actual casualties could be much higher.
Around 9,000 people were killed last year as they tried to cross the border, the United Nations Immigration Agency said.
The death toll has been set for the fifth consecutive year to date with a new Grimm Record. Migratory bird route deaths have more than doubled since 2020.
The International Organization for Immigration (IOM) recorded 8,938 immigrant deaths in 2024. Given that many deaths have not been reported or documented, the actual number of deaths is likely to be much higher, the IOM said in a statement Friday.
“The rise of death is terrible in itself, but the fact that thousands remain unidentified each year is even more tragic,” Julia Black, coordinator of the IOM’s Missing Immigration Project, said in a statement.
Ugochi Daniels, deputy director of operations at IOM, said, “The increase in deaths in so many parts of the world demonstrates why an international and overall response is needed that can prevent further tragic loss of life.”
“Behind every number there is a person whose losses are devastating,” he added.
Asia is the region where 2,788 deaths were most reported, followed by 2,452 Mediterranean and 2,242 Africa. Although the final data is not yet in the US, at least 1,233 deaths occurred in 2024 (including 341 in the Caribbean).
At least 233 migrants lost their lives in Europe, and 174 died in the Darien gap between Colombia and Panama.
According to the IOM, all immigrants are people who, for some reason, leave their residence, whether voluntarily or unwillingly. Some people seek asylum because they are fleeing war and violence.
News of record-breaking deaths come days after government agencies announced they have suspended many “life-saving” programs around the world, fired hundreds of employees due to US aid cuts and fired hundreds of employees to affect millions of vulnerable migrants and refugees around the world.
The Geneva-based IOM is one of the groups that support displaced people who have suffered major aid cuts in the United States and force them to scale back or shutter programs, saying it will have a serious impact on immigrants.
Source link
