Missing and Disappeared Migrants: Lost in Transition

Every year, thousands of people attempting to migrate go missing, becoming part of a growing global trend of missing migrants and missing people. Many disappear along dangerous migration routes, after being detained, or after being separated from their families. These migrants are frequently lost in transition, caught between borders, policies, and legal systems that fail to protect them. Understanding where and why these migrants go missing is an essential step toward creating safer, more accountable migration systems.

The Global Scale

How many people go missing every year? Thousands of migrants go missing annually while attempting to cross borders, travel by sea, or move through conflict zones — often without leaving a trace. The number of missing migrants is often conflated with the number of those who have lost their lives, as it can be difficult to distinguish between those who have perished and those who remain unaccounted for, especially in remote or dangerous areas. 

While exact figures are difficult to determine, the Missing Migrants Project estimates that more than 74,000 have died or gone missing since 2014, with over 30,000 of them never being found or recovered. In 2024, at least 8,938 people lost their lives on migration routes worldwide, making it the deadliest year on record.

Despite these alarming figures, many disappearances go unreported or undocumented, making it impossible to fully understand the human cost. The lack of comprehensive, cooperative international data systems allows countless people to vanish without acknowledgment, leaving families and communities in permanent uncertainty.

Behind these worrying statistics are people from every corner of the globe, many of whom vanish along the world’s most dangerous migration routes. In this section, we’ll take a closer look at a snapshot of these high-risk zones and the vulnerable populations most at risk of disappearing. Here are some of the danger zones at a glance:

• The Mediterranean Sea: The central Mediterranean is one of the deadliest migration routes. In 2024, over 2,200 people died or went missing while attempting to reach Europe. Many migrants face perilous sea conditions, limited rescue operations, and deliberate sea pushbacks from countries like Greece and Italy.​
• The US-Mexico Border: The US-Mexico border, especially through the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, poses significant risks. Migrants often face extreme heat, dehydration, and treacherous terrain.
• The Darién Gap (Panama-Colombia Border): The Darién Gap is a dense, roadless jungle that presents numerous hazards, including natural obstacles and criminal groups.
• The Sahara Desert: In the Sahara Desert, migrants face extreme heat, vast distances, and the constant threat of abandonment by smugglers.
• European Land Borders: European land borders, especially the Poland-Belarus border and the Balkan route through Hungary and Croatia, are dangerous for migrants due to harsh conditions and border forces known for violent pushbacks.
• The Western Africa Route: The Canary Islands route has seen a rise in migration since 2018. Departing from West Africa, migrants face perilous seas, extreme weather, and limited rescue efforts, making the journey incredibly dangerous.
  

Factors Contributing to Migrants Going Missing

Many migrants go missing because they are forced to take dangerous, hidden routes without legal protection. Harsh border policies and limited options for safe migration push people into risky paths through deserts, jungles, and seas, where they face a myriad of challenges.​

Human trafficking is a major danger. Traffickers use force, fraud, or coercion to exploit people. Migrants, especially women and children, are prime targets and often disappear into trafficking networks with no way for families to find them.​ This can happen at any point during a migratory journey, as the clandestine and unprotected nature of irregular migration increases the risk of being trafficked.

Smuggling, while distinct from trafficking, is another major risk. Unlike trafficking, smuggling involves the consensual — though illegal — transport of people across borders, typically for a fee. However, closed and securitized borders have expanded the smuggling market, forcing people to rely on smugglers when no safe legal paths are available. Smuggled migrants often endure harsh, inhumane conditions, are charged exorbitant fees, and may still face abuse and exploitation, even if it doesn’t meet the legal definition of trafficking.

Other reasons migrants go missing include:

• Family separation, detention, and forced expulsion
• Kidnapping and violence from criminal groups
• Lack of legal status, forcing people to stay hidden post-arrival
• Weak international systems for tracking missing migrants​
  

Without safe migration options and better protection systems, this issue of missing migrants will continue.

Who Is Most at Risk?

Certain groups face significantly higher risks during migration, particularly women, girls, and unaccompanied children. These individuals are more vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, abuse, and violence due to a variety of factors.

Unaccompanied Migrant Children

How many children go missing every year? ​It is difficult to determine the exact number due to a lack of data and inconsistent reporting. However, estimates suggest that hundreds of children are unaccounted for annually. For instance, between 2014 and 2018, nearly 1,600 children were reported dead or missing, averaging almost one every day. Yet, many cases likely go unrecorded, and the true number is probably much higher.

In contrast, the number of migrant children confirmed dead is a little better documented. Since 2014, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has recorded the deaths of at least 4,000 children worldwide.

The risks multiply on the migration journey itself. From desert crossings to open‑sea passages, missing children face dangers such as kidnapping, forced labor, and sexual violence. Even once they are found or rescued, the plight of displaced children often includes lost schooling, chronic stress, and scant legal protection.

Many children disappear after government release or informal hand-offs. US officials admitted that there were 1,500 immigrant children missing after they lost track of them. This spotlighted serious gaps in the system that traffickers and abusers can exploit. When young migrants are placed in detention or separated from their families, the trauma and risks can follow them even after arrival.

Women and Girls

Female migrants face heightened dangers throughout their journeys, including sexual violence, exploitation, and abuse by smugglers, traffickers, and even officials. They often endure physical and psychological harm, with limited access to essential services like healthcare and legal protection.

For girls, especially those traveling alone, these risks are compounded by their age and lack of guardianship, making them prime targets for trafficking, forced labor, and sexual exploitation. Unaccompanied girls may also face forced or early marriages and are particularly vulnerable to abuse in shelters or detention centers, where oversight can be inadequate. Their invisibility within migration systems and the scarcity of tailored support services leave them exposed to ongoing harm and exploitation.

Root Causes and Broken Systems Behind Missing Migrants

Migration systems are often fragmented across multiple agencies and borders, with unclear responsibility and limited oversight for the safety and tracking of migrants. They are often inconsistent, complicated, or poorly enforced. For example, the Migrant Protection Protocols require many asylum seekers to wait in unsafe conditions outside the US while their claims are processed. With few safe, legal options for migration, people are forced onto riskier paths where it’s easy to disappear — whether through trafficking, detention without notice, or simply falling through the cracks of overwhelmed systems.

This fragmentation is exacerbated by increasingly securitized borders, where heightened surveillance and militarization often lead to violent pushbacks and human rights violations. Policies of externalization — outsourcing border control to third countries — further complicate accountability, leaving migrants stranded in unsafe conditions with limited access to protection or legal recourse. Such measures not only fail to deter migration but also push individuals into more perilous routes, increasing the likelihood of disappearance or exploitation.

Turning Awareness Into Action

The number of missing migrants is more than a statistic — it’s a reality that touches families, communities, and nations. Behind every number is a person searching for safety, a parent longing for a missing child, or a community mourning a loss. Raising awareness, supporting humanitarian efforts, and advocating for safer, fairer migration policies are simple but powerful ways you can help make a difference.

You can get involved right now — start by exploring practical ways to help migrant children through trusted organizations and local initiatives.ICMC advocates for the rights of all uprooted people, including asylum seekers, refugees, internally displaced persons, and all migrants. ICMC and its members, the national conferences of Catholic bishops worldwide, remain committed to supporting immigration policies that produce more sustainable solutions.

ICMC’s efforts include protecting internally displaced children in Burkina Faso, providing support to survivors of gender-based violence in Malaysia, and aiding displaced Ukrainians.

We rely on donations to fund our critical humanitarian work and continue changing lives. Find out how you can make a difference and help migrants, internally displaced persons, and refugees in need today!