The International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported this Wednesday that more than 4,400 children have lost their lives on migratory journeys worldwide between 2014 and 2025. However, the agency warns that the actual number of minors who died during this period, during which nearly 81,000 deaths and disappearances of migrants were recorded, is probably "much higher." Therefore, it has urged the international community to intensify efforts to identify the victims.
The report from the IOM's Missing Migrants Project, prepared with the support of the International Data Alliance for Children on the Move (IDAC), indicates that at least 4,414 minors died on migratory routes in those years. However, more than half of the records – 44,842 cases, 55.5% – lack information about the age of the victims.
The organization emphasizes that this lack of data means that an indeterminate number of children may not be included in the official count. As an example, it points to the central Mediterranean route, where minors represent 19% of arrivals in Italy and Malta in 2024, but only 2% of recorded deaths, which, in the opinion of the IOM, reveals significant "gaps" in the demographic data.
"Every child who dies during a migratory journey deserves to be counted and yet too many are absent from the data," said Stuart Campo, Director of Strategy for the IOM's Data, Analysis and Policy Department.
"We cannot protect children from dangers we cannot see. By working with other members of the Secretariat and IDAC partners, we can close these gaps and provide governments with the evidence they need to save lives," he added, reminding that minors are often the least visible in migration statistics, despite being exposed to a high risk of exploitation and other violations.
In this regard, the IOM explains that this situation fuels the existence of the "missing figure," which encompasses minors whose deaths are not recorded, and the "hidden figure," which includes documented deaths without sufficient information to determine that the person was a minor. This latter phenomenon particularly affects adolescents, who are sometimes misclassified as adults.
The organism specifies that official records usually offer more detailed information about age, but they only represent 18% of all migrant deaths collected by the project and just 820 of the 4,414 child deaths recorded in the report. Most of the data comes from humanitarian organizations, media reports, and testimonies from survivors and witnesses.
"Continuous advances in data analysis methods are essential to protect the rights of children on the move," argued Marzia Rango, manager of the Migration and Displacement Program of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and coordinator of IDAC.
"They can not only help provide a clearer picture of the risks these children face, but also identify where urgent action is needed," Rango pointed out, who emphasized that "however, when new methods are employed, it is necessary to be transparent about what they can and cannot tell us, and to ensure the safeguarding of children's rights at all times."
In light of this scenario, the document calls on States to improve the recording of migrant deaths, with special attention to minors. To this end, it proposes "systematically recording the age and migratory status of deceased persons" and "improving data sharing between security agencies, forensic services, and humanitarian organizations, while respecting data protection principles at all times."