Libya's 'devastating' refugee crisis: By the numbers

Nearly 750,000 people have fled Libya by land and sea, braving dangerous routes and facing a hostile welcome if they reach foreign shores

Libyans walk through a refugee camp near Tunisia: 746,000 Libyans have fled their war-torn country, even as it threatens to become more dangerous to leave than to stay.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi)

It has gotten so that "fleeing conflict in Libya has become almost as dangerous as staying behind to fight," says Barbara Lewis at Reuters. As Libyan migrants continue to crowd into rickety boats, sometimes in bad weather, for the trip to Italy's nearby Lampedusa Island, several ships have sunk or disappeared. And those migrants who make it aren't exactly welcomed with open arms by overwhelmed Europeans. Even more refugees have fled by land into neighboring Egypt or Tunisia. Here, a look at Libya's "devastating" refugee exodus, by the numbers:

746,000

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5,000

People now stuck at Libya's land borders

58,000

People who have fled to rebel-held eastern Libya

10,371

Libyan refugees who have landed on Italy's Lampedusa Island

29,000

North Africans who have fled to Italy from Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya since Feb. 20

72

Number of refugees stranded at sea for 16 days, allegedly ignored by NATO

62

Number of those refugees who died of thirst or starvation

200

Estimated deaths from an overcrowded ship, carrying 600 refugees, that capsized Friday

800

U.N. estimate of Africans who have died at sea fleeing the Libyan conflict

10,000 to 30,000

Estimated total death toll from the Libya conflict

$300 million

Amount the U.N. has requested for its Libya humanitarian mission

$144 million

Amount it has received so far

Sources: AFP, TIME, Reuters, AP, CNN