Each year, thousands of hopeful migrants make the perilous journey to Europe via the Italian island of Lampedusa. The latest boat of them wasn't able to complete the journey and as a result, at least 94 Eritreans are dead and hundreds more are missing. How many people risk their lives to make it to Europe and which routes are the most dangerous?

Mediterranean the most deadly stretch of water

Whether it's an overcrowded leaking boat, a suffocating container or climbing over razor wire fences, UNHCR recognises that individuals are willing to take any risk that increases their chances of starting a new life abroad.

Image by Norman Einstein

That's particularly evident on the Italian island of Lampedusa. With a population of 6,000 and a surface area of 20.2 km2, Lampedusa would have always struggled to cope as an entry point for North Africans wanting to make their way to Europe. But the island has become so overwhelmed by the influx and the constant casualties that it has become the paradigm for policy makers and international lawyers attempting to stop human trafficking and regulate a problem that shows no signs of slowing.

Lampedusa has become so symbolic of the desperate attempts of some that when Pope Francis visited Italy in July this year, he met with a group of recently arrived migrants before boarding an Italian coastguard vessel to cast a floral wreath into the sea in memory of those who had died during the attempted crossing.

And the island was at the centre of European leaders' concerns when they began to question the Schengen agreements and push for legal reforms. Do the numbers justify the focus on this one island?

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees attempts to collect numbers on 'irregular arrivals' (don't be misled by the term, it actually means the same thing as illegal/undocumented migrants) and although estimations, the numbers show that thousands are attempting to get to Europe each year via Italy as well as Spain and Malta.

But they also have estimates on the number of migrants who die or are reported missing en route to their destinations. In Italy alone, almost 3,000 migrants died between 2006 and 2011 on their way to reach either the mainland or one of the islands. Events abroad have a deep impact on these figures - in 2011, "based on telephone calls from boats in distress and reports from survivors and family members" UNHCR estimates that 1,500 individuals travelling from Libya to Europe died on the way.

It's unlikely things will change soon. In the first half of 2013 alone, 8,400 migrants and asylum-seekers arrived by sea on the coasts of Italy and Malta. Over the same period, the numbers were far higher in the Horn of Africa where UNHCR recorded the arrival of more than 46,000 refugees and migrants. Yemen struggles to cope with the vast majority of these, most of whom are Ethiopian (84% in 2012) or Somali (16%). In 2012, 43 migrants died crossing the Red Sea - so far this year 5 have died, but that number could rise as smugglers and traffickers use increasingly dangerous methods to sustain their revenues.

Get the numbers and get involved

• Download the full spreadsheet

• Contact us at data@theguardian.com

• Follow us on Twitter

• Like us on Facebook

• Get the A-Z of data

Mona Chalabi is teaching a Masterclass, Mastering spreadsheets: how to work with data, at the Guardian's London offices on 26-27 October. Learn more and book