At least 109 Pakistani nationals lost their lives or disappeared in 2025 while attempting irregular migration, reveals recent data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This data is part of the agency’s Missing Migrants Project, which documented a total of 2,722 deaths and disappearances involving migrants from the Asia-Pacific region.
This marks the second year in a row that global migrant fatalities have surpassed 2,700, highlighting the persistent risks faced by those crossing borders via unsafe and undocumented routes. Among the Asia-Pacific countries, Afghanistan recorded the highest number of migrant deaths or disappearances at 1,540, followed by Myanmar with 935 cases. Pakistan was third with 109 cases, ahead of Bangladesh and India.
The IOM emphasized that these figures likely represent only a fraction of the actual number, as many incidents remain unreported due to the clandestine nature of irregular migration and difficulties in tracking migrant fatalities along these routes. Consequently, the recorded numbers should be considered a minimum estimate.
Approximately 91 percent of the deaths occurred within the Asia-Pacific region itself. Key migration routes included land crossings between Afghanistan and Iran, as well as perilous sea journeys across the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Beyond this region, at least 251 migrants from Asia-Pacific were reported dead or missing, mainly along routes leading to or within Europe.
The report also pointed out significant gaps in the data, such as missing information on age and gender in many cases, underscoring the challenges in fully capturing the human cost of migration.
