VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – Malta recorded its lowest number of asylum applications in more than ten years in 2025, according to official figures. The National Statistics Office’s annual migration report showed that the International Protection Agency received 545 asylum applications last year, down 22,3% from 2024 and marking the fifth consecutive annual decline. By the end of December, 1.415 cases were awaiting decisions at initial and appeal stages, representing a 5,5% decrease compared with the previous year. Seven boat landings brought 246 people to Malta in 2025, a 3,4% increase on 2024. Bangladeshis accounted for 157 of those arrivals, while Syrians made up 22,9% of all asylum applicants, the largest nationality group among claimants.
Malta’s first-instance asylum approval rate stood at 40%, the thirteenth lowest among EU member states. Of 188 appeals handled by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, 95,7% were rejected, giving Malta one of the bloc’s lowest rates of overturned decisions. During the year, 36 people were relocated to other EU countries, two were resettled outside the bloc and 23 returned to their countries of origin through assisted voluntary return programmes.
– photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
