785 Libyan migrants were granted protection status in Malta in 2015, making up a total of 59.3% of the total number of people granted this status last year, Eurostat said. Another 280 Syrians (21.3%) and 60 Eritreans (4.5%) were also granted asylum. 

There were a total of 1,320 positive decisions on asylum applications in 2015 in Malta, with 290 being granted refugee status, 955 given subsidiary protection and 75 sheltered for humanitarian reasons. 1,250 of the applications were recognized as positive in the first instance, while 70 were granted refugee status or subsidiary protection after an appeal.

A person is granted refugee status owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons ranging from race to political opinion if he or she returns to their country of origin. Subsidiary protection status, on the other hand, means that although the person is not eligible for refugee status, there are still substantial grounds to believe that, were this person to return to his/her country of origin, he/she would face the risk of suffering serious harm.

In terms of being authorized to stay in a country for humanitarian reasons, this regards third country nationals who are not eligible for international protection, however they cannot be removed due to obligations imposed on all Member States of the EU due to human rights issues. These issues include ill health or them being unaccompanied minors.

The 28 member states of the EU granted asylum to 338,900 asylum seekers in 2015, which shows an increase of 75% since 2014 with 51% being from Syria. In second and third place there are Eritrea and Iraq amounting to 8% and 7% respectively.

More than 60% of all Syrians, around 104,000 people, who were granted protection were recorded in Germany. Out of 27,600 Eritreans 9,500 were recorded in Germany, 6,600 in Sweden and 4,900 in the Netherlands. Out of 23,800 Iraqis, 15,500 were granted protection status in Germany and 2,800 in France.