IOM says 76,000 people have reached Europe by sea, nearly 2,000 per day, since Jan. 1.
More than three-fourths of the deaths have been on the short eastern Mediterranean route between Turkey and Greece - which traditionally has seen far fewer deaths than the much longer central Mediterranean route between Libya and Italy.
The IOM statement today comes a day after Turkey's coast guard said 27 migrants had died after their boat capsized in the Bay of Edremit while trying to reach the Greek island of Lesbos.