A total 2,482 applications for international protection were received by the International Protection Agency (IPA) in 2020, 39.3% fewer than in 2019.
In a statement issued on the occasion of World Refugee Day, the National Statistics Office said there were 29 boat landings last year, including migrants airlifted at sea.
A total 2,281 people were brought to Maltese shores, 33% less than in 2019. The majority, 84.8%, were African, the others Asian.
January had the highest recorded number of people on board with a total of 553 individuals, followed by arrivals in February and June, with 436 and 426 individuals, respectively.
When analysing asylum applications per million resident population across EU states, Malta ranked second after Cyprus.
Nationality of applicants
Most applicants (77.8%) were African, with 18.1% of them being Sudanese. These were followed by Bangladeshis (10.6%), Eritreans (9.1%) and Nigerians (8.9%) citizens.
Three in four applicants (74.3%) were males aged between 18 and 34.
In 2020, the IPA processed 873 applications with 30.7% being granted a positive decision at first instance. The remaining applications were rejected.
When compared to the other EU states, Malta ranked 15th with respect to the share of positive first decisions on applications. Ireland had the highest share of positive first decisions at 74.1% while Czechia, with a 10.9% rate, had the lowest.
More than half Syrian applicants approved at first instance
Of all applicants granted a form of protection status at first instance, 56% were Syrian, followed by 27.2% Libyans.
A total of 728 appeals on first instance decisions were filed with the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, a drop of 8.3% from the previous year.
During 2020, the tribunal processed 565 appeals, of which only 1.6% resulted in a positive decision with the rest being rejected.
Malta had the fifth-lowest share of positive final instance decisions on appeals among the 27 EU states.
At the end of 2020, there were 5,138 pending decisions on applications for asylum, an increase of 20.6% on the previous year. Of the total pending decisions, 4,321 were pending a first decision from the IPA and 817 the final appeals decision.
Open centres
An increase of 23.3% was registered in the resident population at open centres and other institutional households when compared to the preceding year, with the majority of the persons residing in Ħal Far (81.6%).
A further 254 persons (12.7%) were residing in other institutional households, excluding open centres. The majority of residents (83.7%) were men. A total 31.2% were Sudanese, 13.7% Eritrean.
During the year under review, 273 persons were relocated from Malta to another EU+ country, a decrease of 55.9% when compared to the previous year. Another seven benefitted from assisted voluntary return programmes and were returned to their country of origin.
The majority of relocations were split between Germany and France, with these countries hosting 45.8% and 38.8%, respectively, of those relocated.