Out of a total of 1,475 illegal migrants who arrived last year, only 39 declared they were professionals while 485 had elementary skills, Refugees Commissioner Mario Guido Friggieri said today.

The vast majority were men aged under 30 from Somalia.

In an overview of the work of his office, Mr Frriggieri said that last year 2,959 applications for asylum were decided by his office, including some applications made in 2008.

A total of 19 people were recognised as refugees and 1,681 were given some form of protection. 842 did not qualify for any type of protection

Mr Friggieri said applications took an average of six months to be decided.

He explained that upon their arrival, the migrants were told what their rights were. Last year, 1,475 migrants arrived on 17 boats. Of these, 1,308 applied for asylum and 980 were granted some form of protection

The migrants represented 22 nationalities, but the biggest groups were 898 migrants from war-torn Somalia and 156 from Eritrea, which also has civil strife.

The arrivals last year included 219 women, 38 girls and 63 boys. 19 children were born to migrants in Malta.

Mr Friggieri said that in terms of skills, just 39 of the migrants who arrived last year claimed to be professionals, including 21 teachers, four journalists, and six nurses. 485 claimed basic skills, such as farming, construction or drivers. 168 said they were students. Most migrants said they had been unemployed.

1,018 of last year's arrivals were Muslim.

Mr Friggieri said his Office received EU funding which enabled it to improve its human resources and training. The Office also received assistance from the British and Dutch asylum agencies.