Chapter 1 Migrant Deaths: An International Overview
1.3 How many have died? Statistics on migrant border-related fatalities Figure 1.1: Migrant border-related deaths around the world, January–September 2014a
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Source: IOM calculations based on various sources including media reports, information gathered by IOM Field Offices, data from medical examiner offices and UNHCR. Notes: (a) Figures correspond to deaths that occurred at the physical borders of States or during migration towards an international destination. They exclude deaths that occur once in a destination country that can be indirectly attributable to immigration policies, such those occurring in detention facilities, during deportation, or on forced return to a migrant’s homeland. Figures include both confirmed dead and people missing and presumed dead, generally at sea. Often numbers of missing are estimates, sometimes rough ones, as total passenger counts are rarely known. These figures include only deaths that are reported; countless others occur in remote areas and are not known of. Thus, estimates represent a base minimum of the true global count. In some cases, estimates were compiled based on extrapolation from partial data. United States–Mexico border deaths are estimated based on available data for Pima County, Arizona and Brooks County, Texas, which cover the majority of the Tucson and Laredo sectors, respectively. (b) This refers to deaths that occurred in Europe other than the Mediterranean (7) and India (1). It should be noted that likely several hundred deaths of migrants are occurring in Central America each year. However, current data sources are patchy at best and do not provide sufficient information to distinguish whether deaths are related to the process of migration or due to unrelated causes while residing in a country (see note a). According to diplomatic sources, from January to August 2014, 64 bodies of deceased Salvadorans were repatriated by the El Salvador Consulate in Mexico. However, it is not possible to determine if deaths occurred during transit.
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