JAKARTA - More than 3,000 people died during migration across Asia in 2025, making it the deadliest year on record for the region for the third consecutive year, according to new data released by the International Organization for Migration. The single largest driver was Afghans fleeing their country, with 1,540 reported dead.

The figures are part of IOM's wider annual count, which recorded at least 7,667 migrant deaths and disappearances globally in 2025, which is equivalent to roughly 21 every day. The Eastern Route, stretching from the Horn of Africa to Yemen and Gulf countries, recorded 922 deaths, a sharp increase from 558 in 2024. 

Almost all who died on this route were Ethiopian nationals, many of whom lost their lives in three separate mass shipwrecks that each claimed more than 180 lives. IOM attributed the persistence of deaths along both routes to the expanding reach of trafficking and migrant smuggling networks that exploit desperation.

Globally, sea crossings remained among the deadliest passages. At least 2,185 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean in 2025, while 1,214 were recorded on the Western Africa and Atlantic route to the Canary Islands. 

At least 1,500 additional people were reported missing at sea but could not be verified due to restricted access to search-and-rescue information. Additionally, 270 human remains washed ashore on Mediterranean coasts in 2025 without being linked to known shipwrecks, and three vessels carrying the remains of 42 people were found drifting toward Brazil and the Caribbean after departing for the Canary Islands.

The trend has worsened into 2026. As of February 24, 606 migrant deaths had already been recorded in the Mediterranean, marking the deadliest start to a year since IOM began tracking data in 2014, even as arrivals in Italy fell 61 percent over the same period, from 6,358 to 2,465. 

IOM also warned that US funding cuts are now limiting its ability to collect and verify data on key routes, which has made the real toll likely even higher than reported figures suggest. The global 2025 figure of 7,667 is lower than the nearly 9,200 deaths recorded in 2024, but IOM cautioned against reading this as progress. 

“The continued loss of life on migration routes is a global failure we cannot accept as normal,”said IOM Director General Amy Pope. “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.”