Between February and July 2017, IOM recorded 27,117 refugees and migrants leaving Niger towards North Africa, compared with 221,992 during the same period in 2016. This dramatic decline is largely the result of the increased security in towns along the major route between Niger and Libya. According to IOM, migration routes are currently very diffuse, covering much of the Agadez region in the north of Niger, making identification of migrants, but also the provision of assistance to them, more difficult.