The team at Haven: the Asylum lab is pleased to announce immediate publication of our newest data drop, titled A Global Database on Migrant Boat Losses at Sea, 1990 to 2015. In this blog post, Kira Williams and Alison Mountz (University of Toronto Scarborough) share more about this exciting addition to our data catalogue.
While human migration by boat is an ancient practise, the creation of modern countries and their borders have coincided with increasing political and media attention given to such journeys. With growing restrictions on the ability to seek political refuge worldwide, migration by boat has become more common as a mode of transit for people trying to access their rights under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. In response, a number of countries, led by the United States (US) in the 1980s, as detailed by Loyd and Mountz (2018) in their book Boats, Borders, and Bases, have dramatically enhanced border control and enforcement at sea.
One consequence of increases in migration and subsequent border enforcement at sea has been a growth in incidents of boat losses related to these journeys. When we began this research in the 2010s, deaths of people crossing the sea had reached historical highs, which were accompanied by intensified media coverage and stricter border control, especially surrounding the US, European Union and Australia. Despite this, there was an absence of existing research looking at these losses on a global scale or tracking their relationship with border control itself.
Our data drop contains detailed statistical information on migrant boat losses worldwide from 1990 to 2015. To build these data, we used an approach that combined methods designed to locate, record and analyse incidents of loss. Our primary data sources were media aggregators, including LexisNexis and Factiva, from which we gathered, synthesised and stored reports on loss incidents. These data were important because we took a new, wider picture of loss of migrant lives at sea over space and time, used statistical methods in our analysis. These methods yielded findings that lent empirical evidence to the thesis in border studies literature that intensified border enforcement in the name of deterrence generally fails to reduce migrant flows.
These data include 250 media reports on 218 boat losses incidents, which involved an estimated 25,832 migrants and 13,383 missing or dead persons – a loss rate of about 51.81 percent. Each report features one or more media articles in portable document format (PDF), which we link through a central table. The table records a series of variables holding information on these incidents, including time, place, region, estimated passengers and losses, ship origins, passenger origins, desired destination and related border control responses. We supplement this table with metadata to describe the meaning of each of these variables.
Figure. Histogram of Boat Loss Incidents by Year, 1990 to 2015 (n = 218)
Source: Williams & Mountz (2018)
Our data drop can be used to describe losses at sea as well as infer relationships between them and wider border control activities. In the figure above, for example, we present the number of boat loss incidents over time. As noted, these data hold both quantitative and qualitative elements, allowing for use of different methods, like content or time series analysis. Our intention here is to support and inform research and respond to broader public interest in migration by boat using data-driven approaches. We believe sharing these data through the Haven Lab will support these goals.
In the time since we completed this research, other organisations and scholars continued to collect more detailed data on migrant boat losses. Examples of this include the ongoing Missing Migrants project led by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Europe Sea Arrivals by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Although our data drop and its analysis show that growing precarity for people seeking to move by boat may be related to stricter border control at sea, many countries are nonetheless proceeding with expansions to their enforcement activities. At the same time, the data in this drop consistently demonstrates the prediction of increasing movement at sea despite heightened efforts at deterrence.
We appreciate your interest in our work and hope that this data drop will be of value to you. Should you have any questions, comments or feedback, please feel free to contact us at haven.utsc@utoronto.ca or kira.williams@utoronto.ca.
Kira Williams & Alison Mountz,
July 2025
References
Burroughs, E., & Williams, K (eds.). (2018). Contemporary Migration by Boat: Data, Geopolitics, and Discourses. Rowman & Littlefield International.
Loyd, J. & Mountz, A. (2018). Boats, Borders, and Bases: Race, the Cold War, and the Rise of Migration Detention in the United States. University of California Press.
Williams, K., & Mountz, A. (2018). Between Enforcement and Precarity: Externalization and Migrant Deaths at Sea. International Migration, 56(5), 74-89.