GENEVA (Reuters) - At least 8,565 people died on migration routes across the world last year, making 2023 the deadliest year on record for migrants, the U.N. migration agency said on Wednesday.

       The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the number of migrant deaths recorded last year surpassed the number of dead and missing globally in the previous record year of 2016, when 8,084 people died.

       Last year's death toll was also 20% up on 2022.

       "These horrifying figures collected by the Missing Migrants Project are also a reminder that we must recommit to greater action that can ensure safe migration for all, so that ten years from now, people aren't having to risk their lives in search of a better one," IOM Deputy Director General Ugochi Daniels said.

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       Missing Migrants Project, an IOM initiative that has recorded migrant deaths and disappearances since 2014, has found that the Mediterranean crossing continues to be the deadliest route for migrants, with at least 3,129 deaths and disappearances recorded last year.

       (Reporting by Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber; Editing by Barbara Lewis)