Malta's Refugee Commission received 1,928 applications for international protection last year, a 4.6 per cent increase over the previous year.

In a statement issued on World Refugee Day, the National Statistics Office said no boat landings were recorded in Malta last year with only 24 persons being airlifted out at sea and brought to Maltese shores. The absolute majority were Africans.

Analysing asylum applications in the context of the European Union, Malta ranked fourth after Germany, Austria and Greece. This was considering applicants per million population.

More than a third (34.5%) were Libyan. A further 17.1% were Syrian. A large proportion of the applicants (42.4%) were males aged between 18 and 34.

During 2016, the Office of the Refugee Commissioner processed 1,435 applications with 83.1% being granted a positive decision at first instance. The remaining applications were rejected.

Nearly two-thirds (64.2%) of applicants granted asylum in 2016 were African, 32.7% Asian.

A total 44.5% were Libyan while 30.1% were Syrian.

An increase of 11.4% was registered in the resident population of open centres and other institutional households when compared to 2015.

Just over half were residing in Ħal Far while 28.4 per cent were living in Marsa. Another 272 people were residing in other institutional households, excluding open centres. The majority of residents were men and almost a quarter of Eritrean citizenship.

Last year, 461 third-country nationals were resettled in another country – a decrease of 19.1 per cent over 2015. Another 14 benefitted from assisted voluntary return programmes.