Switzerland - IOM reports that 11,169 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 8 February – about 85 percent arriving in Italy and the rest in Greece. This compares with 76,395 during the first 39 days of 2016. 

IOM Rome registered 70 additional arrivals on Thursday that are not included in the total above. With some 9,400 arrivals in Italy since 1 January 2017, IOM Rome notes that this winter’s migration flow already has surpassed totals for the first two months of each of the past two years. 

In 2016, IOM recorded 9,101 arrivals in Italy during January and February, and 7,882 in 2015. IOM notes this year’s pace already out-strips either of the past two year’s two-month totals, this with nearly three weeks remaining in February.

Meanwhile IOM’s Missing Migrants Project reports an estimated 258 deaths at sea on various routes, compared with 416 during the first 39 days of 2016.  The few deaths recorded since IOM’s last report on Tuesday (7/2) included three children reported drowned off Libya, and an Ethiopian woman who died in the waters between Greece and Turkey. The 258 figure does not include the death of a 15-year-old boy from Ethiopia, who reportedly died in an Italian hospital days after he was rescued in the Channel of Sicily. IOM’s Rome spokesperson Flavio di Giacomo reported the youth died from drinking sea water. 

Through the year’s first 40 days, IOM’s Missing Migrants Project has recorded 419 deaths worldwide, an average of over 10 men, women and children per day.  This is half the rate recorded by the Missing Migrants Project for all of 2016 – when over 20 people died per day. But IOM researchers note data from several particularly deadly locations often arrive days, even weeks after cases are discovered.

One example this week is from the US-Mexico border, where IOM this week recorded the deaths of 15 migrants in one location: Pima County, Arizona. Combined with drowning deaths already recorded, that region has registered nearly one death per day since the start of the year.

Deaths of Migrants and Refugees: 1 Jan. - 8 Feb. 2016 vs 1 Jan. - 8 Feb. 2017

For the latest Mediterranean Update infographic: 
http://migration.iom.int/docs/MMP/170210_Mediterranean_Update.pdf

For latest arrivals and fatalities in the Mediterranean, please visit: http://migration.iom.int/europe
Learn more about the Missing Migrants Project at: http://missingmigrants.iom.int

For further information please contact:
Joel Millman at IOM Geneva, Tel: +41 79 103 8720, Email: jmillman@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo at IOM Italy, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int 
Sabine Schneider at IOM Germany, Tel: +49 30 278 778 17 Email: sschneider@iom.int
IOM Greece: Daniel Esdras, Tel: +30 210 9912174, Email: iomathens@iom.int or Kelly Namia, Tel: +30 210 9919040, +30 210 9912174, Email: knamia@iom.int 
Julia Black at IOM GMDAC, Tel: +49 30 278 778 27, Email: jblack@iom.int
Mazen Aboulhosn at IOM Turkey, Tel: +9031245-51202, Email: maboulhosn@iom.int
IOM Libya: Othman Belbeisi, Tel: +216 29 600389, Email: obelbeisi@iom.int or or Maysa Khalil, Tel: +216 29 600388, Email: mkhalil@iom.int
Hicham Hasnaoui at IOM Morocco, Tel: + 212 5 37 65 28 81, Email: hhasnaoui@iom.int

For information or interview requests in French:
Florence Kim, OIM Genève, Tel: +41 79 103 03 42, Email: fkim@iom.int
Flavio Di Giacomo, OIM Italie, Tel: +39 347 089 8996, Email: fdigiacomo@iom.int