Malta granted some form of protection to 815 people in 2017, out of the total of 538,000 cases in the EU. However, when seen on a per capita basis, the rate was higher than the EU average.

Malta granted 1,770 per million population, compared to the EU average of 1,050. Germany, which took the largest number by far - 325,400 – had a rate of 3,945, Eurostat reported on Thursday.

Libyans (315) constituted the largest group of those granted asylum in Malta, with Syrians next (240) and Eritreans next (100).

This contrasted with the situation in the EU as a whole, where almost one-third of the beneficiaries were Syrians, with Afghans and Iraqis in second and third place. The number of decisions granting protection status to Syrian citizens has dropped since 2016 (when they accounted for a share of 57% of all grants). However, they remained the largest group granted protection status in 18 member states in 2017. Of the 175,800 Syrian citizens granted protection status in the EU, more than 70 per cent received protection status in Germany (124,800). 

More than 60 per cent of positive decisions were granted in one single member state: Germany (325,400), ahead of France (40,600) and Italy (35,100).

POSITIVE DECISIONS

538,000 (-25% from 2016)

• 271,600: refugee status (50%),
•189,000: subsidiary protection (35%)
•77,500: authorisation to stay for humanitarian reasons (14%)

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.