Caminando Fronteras, a nongovernmental organization that monitors migration from Africa to Spain, said that over 2,000 people have died or gone missing trying reach Spain from Africa, with the vast majority (1,922) perishing on the Atlantic route to the Canaries. That is more than the 1,852 fatalities for the same route the aid group counted in all of 2020.

Among the 2,087 registered deaths are 341 women and 96 children. The victims of the EU border regime come from 18 countries, mainly from West Africa, but also from Bangladesh, Syria and Yemen.

Due to the closure of the Mediterranean area, many migrants had to switch to the Atlantic route. This route is many times more dangerous than the Mediterranean route. On the way, 1922 of migrants died.

"It was our worst year so far for deaths," said Caminando Fronteras founder Helena Maleno at the launch of the report. “The figures are the worst we have seen since we started out work on the ground in 2007,” she added.