War
Missing Migrants: Visualizing Lost Lives Along the Mediterranean Sea
Missing Migrants: Lost Lives Along the Mediterranean Sea
Each year, thousands of migrants flee war-torn countries in search of asylum.
Even before the migrant crisis caused by the Russo-Ukrainian War, Europe has been the focal point in the past decade. Many refugees from conflicts in Africa and Asia, including those from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq, and have traveled to Europe along the Eastern Mediterranean migration route—a dangerous passage across the Aegean Sea that weaves along the coastlines of Greece and Turkey.
The journey to reach Europe is risky, and some of the migrants who attempt the crossing never make it. Using data from the International Organization for Migration (IOM), this map by Elbie Bentley visualizes the reported deaths and disappearances along the Eastern Mediterranean from 2014 to 2021.
Inspired by Levi Westerveld’s Those Who Did Not Cross, each lost life is captured with its own dot, in an effort to humanize the data.
The 2015 European Crisis
1,863 deaths and disappearances were reported along the Eastern Mediterranean between the years of 2014 and 2021.
Almost half of those recordings came from 2015 during the European migrant crisis, when a record-breaking one million people sought asylum in the EU.
About 800,000 of the one million migrants traveled to Greece through Turkey, with many of the refugees escaping Syria’s civil war.
European Migrant Crisis by Year | Reported deaths and disappearances |
---|---|
2014 | 101 |
2015 | 804 |
2016 | 434 |
2017 | 62 |
2018 | 174 |
2019 | 71 |
2020 | 106 |
2021 | 111 |
In an attempt to control the situation, the EU and Turkey signed a migration deal in March 2016 that agreed to send back migrants who did not receive official permission to enter the EU.
Though the agreement drastically reduced the number of people traveling through Turkey to Greece, thousands still make the dangerous journey across the Aegean Sea each year. In 2021, 111 people were reported dead or missing along the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Dangerous Journey
According to the International Organization for Migration, the most common cause of death along the Eastern Mediterranean is drowning.
While the journey is only 5.4 nautical miles or less, transportation conditions to Greece are not always safe. Boats are sometimes forced into tumultuous waters, according to migrants who’ve experienced the journey firsthand.
And these boats are often severely underequipped and overcrowded—rubber dinghies designed to carry a dozen people are sometimes loaded with up to 60 passengers.
Safer means of transportation are available, but the costs are steep. According to Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, it could cost a family an average of €10,000 to travel by yacht.
Rescue Efforts for Migrants is Needed
Further complicating the dangerous journey is a lack of rescue resources.
According to a 2021 report by IOM, the EU does not currently have a dedicated search and rescue team. Instead, the onus is on individual states to patrol their own waters.
Until the crisis is better addressed or local conflicts begin to resolve, there will be an urgent need for increased rescue operations and a standardized migration protocol to help mitigate the number of migrant deaths and disappearances each year.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.
Countries
Mapped: World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
War in Europe has caused Ukraine’s military spend to jump up by 640%. How do the world’s largest military budgets compare?

Mapped: World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military. When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars.
Almost 80 years later, modern day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets. The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.
In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.
The Largest Military Budgets in 2022
The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion.
Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:
Rank | Country | Military Budget (Billions) | % of World Military Spend |
---|---|---|---|
1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $876.9 | 39.0% |
2 | 🇨🇳 China | $292.0 | 13.0% |
3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | $86.4 | 3.9% |
4 | 🇮🇳 India | $81.4 | 3.6% |
5 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $75.0 | 3.3% |
6 | 🇬🇧 UK | $68.5 | 3.1% |
7 | 🇩🇪 Germany | $55.8 | 2.5% |
8 | 🇫🇷 France | $53.6 | 2.4% |
9 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $46.4 | 2.1% |
10 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $46.0 | 2.1% |
11 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | $44.0 | 2.0% |
12 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $33.5 | 1.5% |
13 | 🇦🇺 Australia | $32.3 | 1.4% |
14 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $26.9 | 1.2% |
15 | 🇮🇱 Israel | $23.4 | 1.0% |
16 | 🇪🇸 Spain | $20.3 | 0.9% |
17 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | $20.2 | 0.9% |
18 | 🇵🇱 Poland | $16.6 | 0.7% |
19 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | $15.6 | 0.7% |
20 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | $15.4 | 0.7% |
21 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $12.5 | 0.6% |
22 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | $11.7 | 0.5% |
23 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | $10.6 | 0.5% |
24 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | $10.3 | 0.5% |
25 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | $9.9 | 0.4% |
26 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | $9.1 | 0.4% |
27 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | $9.0 | 0.4% |
28 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | $8.5 | 0.4% |
29 | 🇳🇴 Norway | $8.4 | 0.4% |
30 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | $8.2 | 0.4% |
31 | 🇬🇷 Greece | $8.1 | 0.4% |
32 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | $7.7 | 0.3% |
33 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | $6.9 | 0.3% |
34 | 🇮🇷 Iran | $6.8 | 0.3% |
35 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $6.1 | 0.3% |
36 | 🇴🇲 Oman | $5.8 | 0.3% |
37 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | $5.7 | 0.3% |
38 | 🇨🇱 Chile | $5.6 | 0.2% |
39 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | $5.5 | 0.2% |
40 | 🇷🇴 Romania | $5.2 | 0.2% |
China, ranked second in absolute terms, accounts for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.
Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add in the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spend.
Comparatively, the lowest budgets on the top 40 ranged include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course there are many countries with even smaller spends.
Largest Military Budget Increases in 2022
Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spend had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates.
On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.
Country | % Change (2021-2022) | Rank Change (2021-2022) |
---|---|---|
🇺🇦 Ukraine | 640% | +25 |
🇶🇦 Qatar | 27% | +2 |
🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 16% | +3 |
🇧🇪 Belgium | 13% | 0 |
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 12% | 0 |
🇸🇪 Sweden | 12% | -1 |
🇵🇱 Poland | 11% | 0 |
🇷🇺 Russia | 9.2% | +2 |
🇩🇰 Denmark | 8.8% | +3 |
🇪🇸 Spain | 7.3% | -1 |
🇳🇴 Norway | 6.2% | 0 |
🇮🇳 India | 6.0% | -1 |
🇯🇵 Japan | 5.9% | -1 |
🇮🇷 Iran | 4.6% | +5 |
🇨🇳 China | 4.2% | 0 |
🇬🇧 UK | 3.7% | -2 |
🇨🇦 Canada | 3.0% | -1 |
🇸🇬 Singapore | 2.8% | +1 |
🇩🇪 Germany | 2.3% | 0 |
🇮🇩 Indonesia | 1.3% | 0 |
🇨🇴 Colombia | 1.1% | -1 |
🇺🇸 U.S. | 0.7% | 0 |
🇫🇷 France | 0.6% | -2 |
🇬🇷 Greece | 0.6% | -1 |
🇨🇭 Switzerland | 0.4% | -1 |
🇹🇼 Taiwan | 0.4% | -1 |
🇦🇺 Australia | 0.3% | -1 |
🇵🇰 Pakistan | -2.0% | -3 |
🇰🇷 South Korea | -2.5% | +1 |
🇷🇴 Romania | -2.6% | +1 |
🇴🇲 Oman | -3.0% | +1 |
🇩🇿 Algeria | -3.7% | -1 |
🇮🇱 Israel | -4.2% | -1 |
🇮🇹 Italy | -4.5% | -1 |
🇨🇱 Chile | -6.2% | -3 |
🇧🇷 Brazil | -7.9% | -1 |
🇲🇽 Mexico | -9.7% | 0 |
🇰🇼 Kuwait | -11% | -4 |
🇹🇭 Thailand | -11% | -5 |
🇹🇷 Türkiye | -26% | -6 |
Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict.
Although no other country comes close in matching Ukraine’s surge in defense spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.
On the flipside, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel.
The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.
The Specter of War in Europe
With an ongoing conflict in the region and large financial powerhouses, its no surprise that eight of the top 10 countries with the most significant increases in military spending are located in Europe.
Consequently, European military budgets have reached levels not witnessed since the end of the Cold War.
And amid escalating geopolitical concerns, countries in Asia such as India, Japan, and China have also ramped up their defense spending. This is an indication of simmering global flashpoints such as India and China’s border skirmishes, the longstanding South China Sea territorial conflict, and concerns surrounding Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Data note: SIPRI’s military expenditure data collection began in 1949, thus its records do not account for all expenditure that occurred during both World Wars.
Please see SIPRI’s methodologies page for more details on how they collect their data and create estimates.
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