Mediterranean still the deadliest migration route: IOM

A tragic 3,514 migrants have died or gone missing while seeking a better life in another country in 2017.

In this 2017 file photo, sub-Saharan migrants stand on the deck of the Golfo Azzurro rescue vessel. after being rescued by members of Proactive Open Arms. Source: AAP

The International Organisation for Migration data analysis gathers information from worldwide media reports and national authority statistics and reports the minimum estimates of fatalities.

The Missing Migrant Project report shows the Mediterranean is still the unsafest region to travel for migrants in the world with more than 14,500 recorded deaths since 2014.

Despite 3,514 deaths in 2017 so far, the number of recorded fatalities across all regions appear to be down from 2016.

In 2017, 45 migrants, including refugees and asylum-seekers, have reportedly died or gone missing along South East Asia travel routes.

Missing Migrants Project tracks fatalities of migrants, including refugees, traveling along mixed migration routes around the world. Source: IOM's Missing Migrant Project

The Mediterranean is considered the deadliest migration route in the world with up to 2,410 migrants having been reported to have died or gone missing in 2017, and up to 14,500 recorded deaths since 2014.

The number of reported people missing or fatalities in Africa stands at 568, 396 in the Americas, 55 in the Midde East and 38 in Euope.

Around the globe, the cause of death varies, with the majority of migrants in the Middle East shot dead.

In Asia all but three migrants died from drowning, while up to 2,236 people drowned in the Mediterranean.

Moored alongside a supply ship for oil rigs, migrants wave to rescuers from the Aquarius vessel of SOS Mediterranee NGO and MSF in the Mediterranean Sea. Source: AAP

In Africa, the majority of deaths were reported to have been caused by starvation, sickness or dehydration.

A report from the International Organisation for Migration found increasingly dangerous smuggling practices, combined with unsafe sea-worthy vessels, has contributed to the rise in deaths along the Mediterranean routes.

So far in 2017, two per cent of migrants died when attempting to travel between Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

The Internatioanl Organisation for Migrants started researching the project after a tragedy in October 2013. The organisation is funded by the UK Aid from British People.

Migration flows in Europe showing arrivals and fatalities. Source: IOM's Missing Migrant Project