A total of 1,475 irregular immigrants arrived in Malta on 17 boats last year, according to data provided by the National Statistics Office.
In a statement issued on the occasion of World Refugee Day, being celebrated worldwide on Sunday, the NSO said that new applications for asylum amounted to 2,387, down by 8.5 per cent when compared to 2008.
It said that last year’s arrivals reflected a decline of 79.8 per cent in arriving boats when compared to the landings in 2008,which resulted in a drop of 1,300 irregular immigrants.
There was also a decline in the number of new applications filed with the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees for asylum - from 2,608 at the end of 2008 to 2,387 at the end of 2009.
As in 2008, 97.1 per cent of applicants were African, 2.7 per cent Asian and 0.2 per cent European or American.
A total of 2,575 decisions were taken by the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees, in which 20 and 1,671 individuals were granted refugee status and subsidiary protection respectively.
Another 884 applications were rejected. Of the 1,691 positive decisions granted, 99.2 per cent involved African immigrants, while the remaining 0.8 per cent were Asian.
Most applicants granted a positive decision (81.5 per cent) were males and the majority, 88.4 per cent, were aged between 18 and 34. Children accounted for 4.4 per cent of all positive decisions.
In December, 2,486 individuals were living in open centres, while an additional 297 were residing in other institutional households. 91.7 per cent were adults and 82.1 per cent were males. Nearly all residents were African.
During the past two years 200 irregular immigrants benefitted from assisted voluntary return programmes; 52 were repatriated in 2008 and 148 in 2009.
92 per cent of these repatriations involved males.
In the year under review, the number of people found to be illegally present in Malta totalled 1,691 and were subject to an obligation to leave the country.
The majority of these third-country nationals (87 per cent) fell within the 18-34 age-bracket; 6.7 per cent were children under 18 years of age and 6.3 per cent were 35 and over. Of the 530 persons who were returned to third countries (non-EU countries) by the police, 31 were European, 416 were African, 81 were Asian and two were American.