In 2025, people paid between $388 million and $509 million to smugglers for sea trips to Europe. Smugglers take money to help people enter a country without permission. Two United Nations offices reported the figures. About 190,000 to 209,000 people used smugglers on four main sea routes to Europe.
The route across the central Mediterranean Sea was the busiest. Between 84,000 and 100,400 people attempted a crossing there. A UN survey asked people about trips to Italy or Malta from North Africa or Turkey. Almost half said they paid more than $7,500 each. Some other trips cost much less. Smugglers took as little as $170 per person for trips from Northwest Africa to Spain’s Canary Islands. People travel on this dangerous route in open boats.
Paying did not mean people would arrive. Among everyone who left on the sea routes in 2025, 3,404 people died or went missing. Authorities stopped another 104,200 people at sea and sent them back. Not everyone trying to enter Europe without permission used a smuggler.
