To die at Europe’s gates
Update to the Migreurop map, by Nicolas Lambert.
Between January 1, 1993, and April 3, 2026, 76,000 people died while migrating in an attempt to reach Europe. Drowning, suffocation, accidents, being crushed, poisoning, explosions in minefields, death from hunger, thirst, exhaustion, lack of medical care, or police violence—these are all human tragedies resulting from repressive migration policies.
In this article published on the “Neocarto” website on April 3, 2026 (in French), geographer and cartographer Nicolas Lambert offers a systematically updated and downloadable version of Migreurop’s map of deaths at the borders. He also provides an educational explanation of the mapping process, as well as all the questions and visualization choices that arise for the cartographer.
The data used to create this map comes from three sources. The data from 1993 to 1999 comes from the association UNITED for Intercultural Action, a European organization dedicated to solidarity with migrants. Data from 2000 to 2013 comes from the data journalism project “The Migrants Files,” a journalistic initiative that collected data on migrant deaths worldwide. Finally, data from 2014 to the present comes from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which collects data on migrant deaths worldwide.
The first map of border deaths was designed and produced by Olivier Clochard between 2000 and 2002, and published in 2003 in an issue of *Cahiers d’Outre-Mer* (see). It was subsequently revised and updated with Philippe Rekacewicz for publication in Le Monde Diplomatique in 2006 (see). It was then revised and updated again on several occasions by the Migreurop network (see).
The new version presented here has the advantage of being systematically updated with data that is refreshed on an ongoing basis. It is available for download from the neocarto website in .svg and .png formats.
Nicolas Lambert’s article also offers a very informative overview of the methodological processes used to construct the map based on the available data. He explains the various steps taken to clean and aggregate the data, and presents different visualization methods.
The interactive display allows you to view the data in different ways, by varying the level of detail on the map and producing different visual effects.
It also allows you to select the time period for which you want to retrieve the data.
We invite you to read this article (only in French), which is both informative and educational, and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the mapping process. It provides access to up-to-date data on deaths during migration.