1/28. Migration Routes

One in 28 people on the planet is a migrant. Germany hosts 1 in 495.

While human beings have always fled violence and poverty, globalization and climate change have accelerated these processes, and criminal groups have broken open borders for the world’s most desperate people.

Most of the world's migrants come from Central America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia, with 40 percent coming from Asia.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), there were 281 million migrants in 2020, three times more than in 1970.

Most of them head for Europe, where there are 87 million migrants; the United States, which is home to 50.6 million; and Saudi Arabia, which hosts 13.5 million.

An estimated 2.5 million desperate people resort to migrant smuggling networks each year.

Quite often, refugees resort to irregular migration routes to reach a safe destination. By the end of 2023, the UN Refugee Agency had 43.4 million registered refugees, three times more than a decade earlier.

To mark its 40th anniversary in 2024, EPA Images compiled photographs of migrants from all over the world for the exhibition “1/28. Migration Routes” that was displayed at the Instituto Cervantes in Frankfurt, Germany, where the company has its operational headquarters.