2024, the most terrible and "deadliest" year for migrants according to the UN

A UN report stated Friday that at least 8,938 people, a record number, died on migration routes worldwide in 2024. The humanitarian organization noted that the numbers are "probably much higher" because numerous deaths went unrecorded.

"The rising number of migrants killed worldwide is an unacceptable and preventable tragedy," International Organization for Migration (IOM) deputy director general, Ugochi Daniels said in a statement.

The "deadliest" year for the world's migrants

The year 2024 is "the deadliest" so far in most regions of the world, including Asia (2,778 recorded deaths), Africa (2,242) and Europe (233).

Final data for the Americas are not yet available, the organization noted, but current figures show at least 1.233 deaths - including records of 341 deaths in the Caribbean and 174 in the Darien jungle, on the border between Panama and Colombia.

The IOM believes that "the actual number of migrant deaths and disappearances is probably much higher, as many have not been registered." In addition, the identity and origin of most of those killed or missing along these routes is unknown.

A growing trend

The 2024 losses represent a continuation of a five-year trend of increasing fatalities. Last year's losses surpass previous records from 2023 when 8,747 migrant deaths were documented.

Globally, violence has been the most significant factor leading to deaths of people on the move. Since 2022, at least 10% of all recorded migrant deaths occurred in such contexts.

Immigrant children, numbers also growing in Latin America and the Caribbean

More and more migrant children are moving through Latin America and the Caribbean amid violence and instability. Many of them have the United States as their final destination. According to data published by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef) in 2024, one out of every four people on the road in Latin America and the Caribbean is a child, the highest figure in the world.

Similarly, Unicef indicated that there was an incredible increase in children crossing the dangerous Darien jungle. In previous years at least 60,000 children made the route, half of them under five years of age.

"At least 29,000 children made the dangerous crossing of the Darien in 2021. An estimated 40,000 children made the crossing in 2022 and more than 60,000 children crossed the Darien jungle in the first eight months of 2023, half of them under the age of 5, making it the year with the most recorded child crossings," Unicef detailed.