At least 699 migrants were killed while fleeing their homes around the world in January 2026, marking the deadliest January since records began, according to figures from the UN’s migration organisation.
A spike in deaths across the Mediterranean, where a combination of dangerous weather conditions and flimsy, makeshift boats has seen several major incidents so far this year, has driven the latest increase in migrant deaths.
As of 16 February, 2026 has been the deadliest year in the Mediterranean, since the UN’s International Organisation for Migration (IOM) started collecting data through its Missing Migrants Project (MMP) in 2024.
The International Rescue Committee has warned that a “sharp and shameful decline in access to safe pathways”, along with a global increase in policies aimed at deterring migration, have been “cruel, costly and counterproductive” at a time when global displacement is near an all-time high.
“When safe routes close, people don’t stop moving,” Daniel Feeney Berlin, IRC’s Global Policy Director for Protection Pathways, told The Independent. “Rather, they are forced into more dangerous journeys. With record displacement and collapsing protection pathways, rising deaths are tragic but predictable.”
As of Monday, at least 533 deaths have been recorded in the Mediterranean this year, the MMP confirmed to The Independent. The second closest year was 2015, when there were 427.
The IOM data shows that there were around 3,500 arrivals by sea in Italy in 2015, compared to less than 1,500 in January 2026, suggesting the rate of deaths per crossing has increased.
The latest major boat incident in the Mediterranean occurred on Friday 6 February, when 53 migrants, including two babies, were reported dead or missing after a rubber boat capsized off the Libyan coast north of Zuwara.
They were aiming to cross the Central Mediterranean route, which has claimed 26,411 lives since IOM records began, making it the world’s deadliest migration crossing by a significant margin.
In late January, Italian authorities estimated that 380 people may have drowned in a single week, when thousands tried to cross the Mediterranean while Cyclone Harry was battering southern Italy and Malta.
Elsewhere, at least 156 deaths were recorded on routes to and from Africa, 72 in Asia, 18 in the Americas, four in Europe and four in West Asia.
The IOM figures include the number of migrants who are dead or missing presumed dead. But staff say its figures are almost certainly an underestimate, with thousands of migrants likely dying in areas where reporting capabilities are limited – a trend worsened by tightening immigration policies, which are pushing migrants towards remote routes.
“When people are pushed into irregular journeys because there are no safe alternatives, increased loss of life is both a tragic and predictable outcome,” Mr Berlin added.
“Governments must act urgently to prevent further loss of life. That means investing in safe, managed, and accessible pathways to protection.
“Increased access to resettlement, family reunion, and humanitarian admissions prevent people from taking deadly journeys in the first place, and well-functioning asylum systems ensure that when people reach our shores they are treated humanely and fairly,” he said.
