Panama just posted updated data, detailed by country, gender, and age, about migration through the Darién Gap in August.

Annual Migration Through Panama’s Darién Gap 2023: Venezuela 60%, Ecuador 13.0%, Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 12.9%, China 4%, Colombia 3%, India 1.0%, All Others <1% Since 2010: Venezuela 43%, Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 25%, Ecuador 9%, Cuba 8%, Colombia 2.0%, All Others <2% 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 (Aug) Venezuela 2 6 18 65 78 69 2819 150327 201288 Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 0 1 0 2 2 8 16742 40 420 10490 5331 101072 27287 42959 Ecuador 15 18 4 1 14 93 50 51 31 40 387 29356 43536 Cuba 79 18 1154 2010 5026 24623 7383 736 329 2691 245 18600 5961 700 Colombia 65 24 26 9 32 16 36 13 23 21 169 5064 11276 China 268 9 11 1 1 6 3 77 2005 12979 India 12 11 48 1 1 20 1127 2962 1920 39 592 4094 3338 Nepal 29 9 213 297 468 2426 1619 2138 868 254 56 523 1631 1659 Bangladesh 53 45 89 398 377 559 580 506 1525 911 123 1657 1884 1158 Other Countries 118 110 220 313 291 1623 3601 2119 2988 5704 538 7830 20675 14811

Data table

It broke all records: 81,946 people passed through this treacherous jungle region in 31 days. The previous monthly record, set in October 2022, was 59,773.

In the first eight months of this year, 333,704 people have migrated through the Darién. Ten years ago, in 2013, the full-year total was 3,051 migrants. In 2011, it was just 281.

Monthly Migration Through Panama’s Darién Gap August 2023: Venezuela 77%, Ecuador 11%, Colombia 4%, China 3%, Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 2%, all others <1% January 22-Aug 23: Venezuela 60%, Ecuador 13%, Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 12%, Colombia 2.8%, China 2.6%, all others <2% Jan-22 Feb-22 Mar-22 Apr-22 May-22 Jun-22 Jul-22 Aug-22 Sep-22 Oct-22 Nov-22 Dec-22 Jan-23 Feb-23 Mar-23 Apr-23 May-23 Jun-23 Jul-23 Aug-23 Venezuela 1421 1573 1704 2694 9844 11359 17066 23632 38399 40593 668 1374 2337 7097 20816 25395 26409 18501 38033 62700 Ecuador 100 156 121 181 527 555 883 1581 2594 8487 6350 7821 6352 5203 2772 2683 3059 5052 9773 8642 Haiti (plus Brazil and Chile) 807 627 658 785 997 1025 1245 1921 2642 4525 5520 6535 12063 7813 8335 5832 3633 1743 1548 1992 Colombia 48 72 59 72 248 287 407 569 1306 1600 208 188 333 637 1260 1634 1645 894 1884 2989 China 32 39 56 59 67 66 85 119 136 274 377 695 913 1285 1657 1683 1497 1722 1789 2433 India 67 74 88 172 179 228 431 332 350 604 813 756 562 872 1109 446 161 65 96 27 Cuba 367 334 361 634 567 416 574 589 490 663 535 431 142 36 35 59 59 74 123 172 Afghanistan 1 3 40 31 67 82 162 128 180 551 379 596 291 276 359 386 192 217 321 467 Peru 17 23 18 29 88 109 136 247 365 438 34 39 39 100 261 277 394 209 376 653 Other Countries 1842 1361 1722 1477 1310 1506 1833 1986 1742 2038 1748 1862 1602 1338 1495 1902 1913 1245 1444 1871

Data table

60 percent of this year’s migrants through the Darién Gap have been citizens of Venezuela: 201,288 people. In August, the migrant population was 77 percent Venezuelan: 62,700 people.

Jaw-dropping numbers from a region that was viewed as all but impenetrable until perhaps 2021. And there’s little reason why they won’t continue to increase. Any plan to “block” migrants on this route would require a staggeringly large and complex operation that would create additional challenges, like what to do with tens of thousands of stranded migrants.