Over 1,400 asylum applications remain pending
Seven boats carrying 246 migrants reached Malta last year
More than 1,400 asylum seekers in Malta are waiting for their case to be decided, according to new official data published on Friday.
The data was published to mark World Refugee Day, which is observed annually on June 20.
According to the figures, some 466 people are waiting for their initial application to be decided, with 949 waiting for their appeal to the initial decision to be heard.
In total, 1,415 asylum decisions were pending by the end of 2025, a slight dip from the almost 2,000 the previous year.
A fifth of these applications were filed by Syrians, with several others submitted by people from Libya, Sudan, Nigeria and Colombia.
Nevertheless, the number of asylum applications is broadly on the decline.
A total of 545 asylum applications were filed in 2025, fewer than in any year throughout the previous decade.
These include 116 applications by minors under the age of 18.
Several individuals from war-torn countries applied for asylum in Malta last year, the data shows.
These include 21 Ukrainians and 16 Palestinians. Meanwhile, 125 Syrians also applied for asylum in Malta, more than nationals from any other country.
According to the figures, Malta’s rate of 949 asylum applications per one million people is far lower than that of several other European countries. Greece tops the European table with more than 5,900 applications per one million inhabitants.
Almost two-thirds (60.5%) of asylum applications were turned down last year, with the remainder granted refugee status or other protection.
Most asylum seekers granted protection hail from either Syria or Palestine.
Irregular boat arrivals remain low
The number of people moving to Malta irregularly by boat remains low, the figures suggest.
Just 246 people landed in Malta irregularly by boat last year, carried on seven boats.
While this was a slight rise from the previous year, when just six boats landed in Malta, irregular migrant arrivals have declined sharply over the past half decade.
At the peak of arrivals, in 2019, 43 boats carried over 3,400 migrants to Malta in irregular crossings.
Of the almost 250 people who came to Malta by sea last year, 157 were from Bangladesh, far and away the most common country of origin.
A further 39 were from Egypt, while three people came to Malta irregularly from Palestine.