A new report from the UN's International Organization for Migration (IOM) shows that most people who die during migration make the dangerous journey not by choice but out of desperation - fleeing lack of security, conflict, natural disasters and other humanitarian crises.

Since 2014, more than 52,000 people have died trying to leave crisis-affected countries. This is nearly three quarters (72%) of all migrant deaths recorded globally during this period. This includes more than 39,000 who died in crisis zones, often in unsafe conditions, and more than 13,500 who died while trying to flee conflict or natural disaster.

More than half (54%) of all recorded migrant deaths since 2014 have occurred in or near countries affected by conflict or natural disasters. In Afghanistan, for example, more than 5,000 people have died in transit, including thousands who died while fleeing the country after the political upheaval of 2021.

Among the Rohingya people of Myanmar, more than 3,100 people have died - many in shipwrecks or in transit to Bangladesh.  The central Mediterranean remains the world's deadliest migration route, where some 25,000 people have died at sea.