Here's a list of the 34,361 people who died trying to reach Europe since 1993

In 2005, a man named Manuel Bravo hanged himself at a British removal centre after fleeing Angola with his family.

He knew they were going to be deported. He also knew that the only way his son would be allowed to stay was if he were dead.

Bravo and his story occupy a single line on a spreadsheet now 34,361 people long.

Since 1993, a group has worked to compile a list of of every refugee and migrant who died while trying to find a safer life in Europe, a complete copy of which was released by The Guardian on Wednesday in honour of World Refugee Day.

"[The list] is growing in fact faster and faster. So the situation is worsening," said Geert Ates from United for Intercultural Action, the group behind the project. "People have to take bigger and bigger risks to cross borders."

According to the annual report from the United Nations refugee agency, nearly 69 million people were forcibly displaced last year, a record for the fifth straight year.

Ates told As It Happens host Carol Off that while many of the people on the list die by drowning, many others die when they're already in the hands of European governments.

They're shot by border guards, or die in custody, or, like Manuel Bravo, "commit suicide because they are so afraid to be sent home," he said.

"People that are already in the asylum procedure and then die — that is for us a real scandal."

To raise awareness, United for Intercultural Action have found creative ways to distribute the list, including by posting it on billboards in Amsterdam and by working with MoMA in New York. 

Initially, it was difficult for the group to gather names and stories, and Ates believes that for a number of years, their list only represented about a third of the actual number of deaths.

"Now it's a much more known issue and it's much easier for us to get data," he said.

But Ates says there are still huge numbers of people who slip through the cracks, perishing on remote routes, their bodies never found.

He often received calls from mothers whose children left to try and make it to Europe and were never heard from again.  

For Ates' group, it's hard evidence that policy change is desperately needed.

"We don't know how to solve the situation and we just let it become worse and worse," he said.

This story was written by Kate McGillivray and produced by Sarah Jackson.