The Mediterranean Is the Deadliest Place for Migrants

The Mediterranean is the deadliest place for migrants worldwide. While the numbers of migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea is lower now than at the height of the Syrian civil war in 2015 and 2016, more people are once more attempting the dangerous journey and more migrants are losing their lives in this way.

Most recently, two thirds of migrants crossing the Mediterranean used the central route to Italy that is utilized mostly by those from African countries. The death toll caused by unsafe ships and reckless fixers stood at more than 2,400 in 2022. This is around a third of all migrants’ deaths recorded by the International Organization for Migration's Missing Migrants website. More than 27 percent of migrants' deaths now occur in Asia, where two more sea routes are used by Rohingya and Bangladeshi migrants while dangerous migrations also take place overland in the Western part of the continent, for example around Iran. Another 20 percent of deaths happened in the Americas - mostly in Central and North America. Between 2014 and 2016, deaths on the Mediterranean route had made up more than 60 percent of global migrant deaths.

More than 500 migrants have already died in the Mediterranean this year, showing that the grueling trend is continuing. The UN has criticized delays caused by state-led rescue operations as well as the blocking of civilian rescue ships that has become commonplace - both exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the region.