West and Central Africa – Irregular Migration towards Europe | Western Africa – Atlantic Route (January – December 2021)

Irregular migration is a complex, dynamic and fragmented phenomenon, and remains difficult to fully picture. Strengthening the understanding of migration routes, trends as well as migrant profiles is critical in order to protect migrants and support evidencebased policies(1) . The International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) and Missing Migrants Project (MMP) collect data on the departures, arrivals, deaths and disappearances of migrants along migratory routes(2) .

This document presents the resumption of migration from the coasts of West Africa to the Canary Islands (Spain). This route, already active in 2006, saw an increasing number of movements in 2021. The risks, deaths and disappearances following shipwrecks are also on the rise along the Atlantic coasts.

Between January and December 2021, 22,316 individuals reached the Canary Islands irregularly by boat, after crossing from West African Coasts, representing a slight decrease of 707 people compared to 2020 (23,023) (3) .

Data on the West Africa – Atlantic route remain scarce and incomplete. There is currently no harmonized approach to data collection except on arrival to the Canary Islands. Additional data is collected by IOM on arrivals profiles and intercepted vessels.

There is very little data on the actual number of departures and attempts from West African coasts, while shipwrecks are often not reported

Source: International Organization for Migration