Migrants paid up to $500 million in smuggling fees on European sea routes

Key points

• Total fees paid to smugglers on sea routes to Europe reached between $388 and $509 million in 2025: UNODC estimates
• The busiest smuggling corridor was the Central Mediterranean route, where 84,000 to 100,400 people attempted a crossing

Almost half of migrants trying to get smuggled into Italy or Malta from North Africa or Türkiye reported paying fees of over $7,500 each, an IOMsurvey found.

Other routes are cheaper than this busy Central Mediterranean corridor.

Smugglers received as little as $170 per person for transport across the Northwest African Atlantic route, a dangerous maritime path where people travel in open boats from the coasts of Northwest Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands.

Read the full survey here.

Busy routes

The report found that around 190,000 to 209,000 people were smuggled along the four main sea routes to Europe in 2025.

The busiest smuggling route was the Central Mediterranean route (84,000 to 100,400 people), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean (48,400 to 51,300), which runs from Türkiye, Libya and the Middle East towards Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria.

The Northwest African Atlantic came third, with 33,000 people smuggled, followed lastly by the Western Mediterranean route (24,500) which connects North and West Africa to Spain.

Destination not guaranteed

Many of the people who paid these fees to get smuggled to Europe did not arrive at the destination, according to the UN.

Among all those departing on the sea routes in 2025, 3,404 lost their lives or were reported missing.

Another 104,200 people were intercepted at sea and returned.

Smuggling not the only way

“Perpetrators commit smuggling offences to make a profit,” UNODC said. But, the agency stressed that not all those attempting irregular entry on sea routes are smuggled.

The UN office estimates that 72 to 86 per cent of people departing on the Central Mediterranean route in 2025 were smuggled, along with 73 to 83 per cent of people on the Northwest African Atlantic route.

On the Western Mediterranean route, 57 to 90 per cent were smuggled, and on the Eastern Mediterranean route, it oscillated between 75 and 90 per cent.

Read the full UNODC report here