Malta registered the third highest rate per capita of first-time asylum applicants during the third quarter of 2017, Eurostat figures show.

It was preceded only by Greece, with 1,361 first-time applications per million inhabitants, and Cyprus, with 1,577 applicants per million inhabitants.

Malta received 425 asylum applicants between July and September, the figures show.

The first-time asylum applicants came from Libya, Somalia and Syria.

Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were the top three citizenships of asylum seekers

Somalis made up almost a quarter of applicants in the country, totalling 100 applications.

Thirty-two per cent of asylum applications, or 135 asylum seekers, came from Syria, while 95 Libyans applied for asylum for the first time.

For the purpose of the findings, asylum applicants are defined as those who apply for international protection or have been included as a family member in an application for protection.

Germany registered the highest number of asylum applicants in this quarter, with over 46,000 people – or 28% of all applicants in EU member states – applying for protection for the first time.

But Germany also registered the largest decrease in the number of first-time applicants, with 190,000 fewer applications in the third quarter.

Italy registered the highest number of asylum applicants after Germany, with 32,500 people applying for protection for the first time.

France, Greece, Spain, German and Italy accounted for 76% of all first-time applicants from among the European Union’s 28 member states.

Citizens of 146 countries sought asylum protection for the first time in the EU during the third quarter.

“Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans were the top three citizenships of asylum seekers, lodging 26,600, 12,500 and 9, 900 applications, respectively,” the Eurostat findings show.

Syrians contributed to the overall decrease in first-time asylum applicants, Eurostat said, with 64,500 less applicants compared with the third quarter of 2016.