This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from United States statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from American statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other American-specific metadata information.

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator

Indicator 10.7.3: Number of people who died or disappeared in the process of migration towards an international destination
Target

Target 10.7: Facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people, including through the implementation of planned and well-managed migration policies
Organisation

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Definition and concepts

Definitions:

Data on SDG 10.7.3 are currently based on the International Organization for Migration (IOM)’s Missing Migrants Project (MMP) dataset, which since 2014 has documented incidents in which migrants (regardless of legal status) have died or are presumed to have died in the process of migration towards an international destination. This selection of data is based on the currently available sources and can provide some insight into the risks of migration routes.

The MMP aims to provide information on the risks linked to unsafe and irregular international migration movements along key routes and corridors, and thus its definition of a migrant death excludes cases of migrants who die in countries where they have established residence. Deaths in refugee housing, immigration detention centres or camps are similarly excluded unless the death can clearly be linked to a hazard of the journey, e.g. a sickness contracted en route. MMP data also exclude deaths that occur after return to a migrant’s homeland or third country, as well as deaths more loosely connected with migrants’ precarious or irregular status, such as those resulting from labour exploitation, occupational illness or accidents Ior resulting from lack of access to health care. Disappearances of migrants en route in which there is no presumption of death (i.e. excluding shipwrecks and potential drownings) are also excluded.

Data on SDG 10.7.3 are organized by the country in which the incidents occurred. If the incident took place at an international border or in international waters the country of departure is used.

Concepts:

(based on the IOM Glossary on Migration, 2019)

Migrant: An umbrella term, not defined under international law, reflecting the common lay understanding of a person who moves away from his or her place of usual residence, whether within a country or across an international border, temporarily or permanently, and for a variety of reasons. The term includes a number of well-defined legal categories of people, such as migrant workers; persons whose particular types of movements are legally-defined, such as smuggled migrants; as well as those whose status or means of movement are not specifically defined under international law, such as international students.

Irregular migration: Movement of persons that takes place outside the laws, regulations, or international agreements governing the entry into or exit from the State of origin, transit or destination.
Unit of measure

Number of people who have died during international migration
Data sources

See Table 1 for details on data sources used in the MMP database. For each incident recorded, the specific source of information is listed in the ‘Information Source’ variable, along with a link to the report if relevant, in the downloadable dataset available from mmp.iom.int/downloads.

Table 1: Missing Migrants Project data sources and their strengths and weaknesses

Data source

Data format

Strengths

Weaknesses

Government: Data on repatriations of human remains

Database (bodies repatriated)
  • Credible information, covers many cases (not just individual incidents)
  • Available for very few countries
  • Often aggregated figures (typically annual)
  • Can be outdated
  • Includes only information on the recovered bodies and not on missing persons
  • Little contextual information available, difficult to differentiate between deaths during migration journeys vs. deaths in other circumstances

Government: Press releases, official statements

Incident reports
  • Reliable information about individual events
  • Available for isolated events from government agencies (typically police, coast guard, border enforcement actors)
  • Often only includes basic information about an incident
  • Usually includes only information on bodies recovered and not missing persons
  • Not centralized/systematically reported to IOM
  • Not published regularly

Government: Records of border deaths from border enforcement authorities

Database (human remains)
  • Reliable information from government actors encountering human remains
  • Disaggregation by incident/death often not available
  • Incomplete coverage can reflect only cases in which border enforcement authorities encounter
  • Does not include deaths in which human remains are not recovered (missing persons)

Forensic data (i.e. from medical examiners/coroners)

Database (human remains) or summary figures
  • Reliable and detailed information about individual incidents/deaths
  • Fragmentation of national systems of human remains means coverage of border regions is incomplete
  • Data disaggregated by migrant deaths are rarely available
  • Does not include deaths in which human remains are not recovered (missing persons)
  • Data are not systematically reported; extremely labour-intensive to request information and parse records; consequently often outdated

Search and rescue reports from coast guards/police/border patrol/non-governmental organizations (NGOs)

Incident reports
  • Credible information for individual cases
  • Completeness of coverage is unknown
  • Often includes only information on bodies recovered and not missing persons

Testimonies of shipwreck survivors

Incident reports
  • Indicative data where little other information exists
  • Useful to estimate number of missing persons at sea
  • Impossible to verify reports of people who went missing at sea if their bodies are not recovered
  • Survivors may provide different information

Testimonies of families of missing migrants

Incident reports
  • Indicative data where little other information exists
  • Often only source of information on missing persons, especially in cases of shipwrecks in which no remains are ever recovered
  • Impossible to verify reports, if no search and rescue is conducted or remains are not recovered and identified

Testimonies of migrants: Survey programmes

Summary figures, Incident-based database often available on request
  • Indicative data where no other data sources exist, interviewees may speak more honestly with interviewers who speak their native language and/or are also migrants
  • Impossible to verify reports for veracity or double-counting, sample size is generally small and unrepresentative
  • Breaks between funding for survey programmes and changes in methodology can inhibit comparison or end data availability entirely
  • Dates of deaths are often imprecise or unavailable

NGO reports on deaths during migration

Summary figures, incident-based database often available upon request
  • (Can) provide credible information from local contexts, sometimes with specialized knowledge from NGO staff. Though usually these are summary figures released annually, NGOs are sometimes willing to provide underlying data if asked
  • Cover only regional or localized areas
  • Often release data annually as summary figure, which are difficult to check for veracity and double counting
  • Definition of “migrant death” may vary

Media: Traditional media reporting

Incident reports
  • Provides current information on events that may not be reported otherwise
  • Contextual information may be included that is unavailable in other data sources
  • Quality varies significantly, and information can be limited or inaccurate
  • Generally no follow-up reporting (e.g. the aftermath of a car crash)
  • “Big” news/mass casualty events are more likely to receive pickup – i.e. smaller incidents not part of a “crisis” may not be reported
  • Requires frequent data mining/searching of sources

Media: Social media

Incident reports
  • (Can) provide the most current information about incidents, can foster connections between data sources (e.g. IOM with local NGOs), information about cases not reported in news (e.g. European Asylum Support Office weekly social media monitoring reports)
  • Little information is provided that can be incomplete or inaccurate
  • It can be difficult/unfeasible to follow-up to get more information and/or verify
  • False information can travel quickly
  • Requires frequent data mining/searching of sources
Data providers

No country currently collects/reports comprehensive data on deaths during migration at a national level on their territory/area of effective control. As such, MMP and therefore the 10.7.3 dataset are constructed by IOM staff at the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre (GMDAC) and rely on other data providers – including local authorities, NGOs, surveys with survivors, and other sources – which are outlined in Table 1.
Comment and limitations

Data on deaths during migration are fragmented, incomplete and scattered among many different sources. The Missing Migrants Project (MMP) database provides a global overview of data on migrant fatalities, but it is primarily dependent on secondary sources of information. The reliability and completeness of data vary greatly from region to region, from country to country and over time. In addition to undercounting the absolute number of deaths which occur during migration, MMP data also lack identifying information in many cases (incl. age, gender, country of origin).

Table 1 illustrates the wide variety of sources used in the MMP database and gives some insight into the various advantages and disadvantages of each.
Method of computation

Missing Migrants Project (MMP) is an incident-based database, meaning that each entry in the database represents a single occurrence in which an individual or group of individuals die during migration or at international borders in one particular place and time.[1] This approach is used instead of a body/human remains-based database due to the fact that many migrant bodies are never recovered, particularly in overseas routes such as the Mediterranean Sea, or remote terrains such as the Sahara Desert. Indicator 10.7.3 does not include statistical estimates of the true number of lives lost given the extreme variance in completeness (coverage and quality) of data but MMP is currently developing an estimation methodology.

The MMP database provides a global overview of data on migrant fatalities, but it is primarily dependent on secondary sources of information. Information is gathered from diverse sources such as official records – including from coast guards and medical examiners – and other sources such as media reports, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and surveys and interviews of migrants. When a record is added to the MMP database, often it is a result of bringing together several different data sources. For example, a death may be reported first by the media, and subsequently there may be a government statement confirming what happened, and then migrant families and community members may offer information on the likely identity of the person who died. The reliability and completeness of data vary greatly from region to region, from country to country and over time. Table 1 gives an overview of the data sources used and their strengths and limitations. The MMP dataset cites the data source for each entry in its fully disaggregated incident-based database, available for download from missingmigrants.iom.int/downloads.

1

In some cases, official statistics are not disaggregated by incident, in which case the entry will be marked as a “cumulative total” in the disaggregated dataset on the MMP website. ↑
Metadata update

2024-05-24
International organisations(s) responsible for global monitoring

International Organization for Migration (IOM)
Related indicators

Indicator 10.7.3 is complementary to indicator 10.7.2 “Number of countries with migration policies that facilitate orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of people.”
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