The number of people seeking asylum in Malta has increased by more than eight times over the past five years, figures published this week by the EU’s statistical arm, Eurostat, indicate.

Last year Malta also received the EU’s second-highest number of asylum requests per capita, with 3.1 applications per 1,000 citizens, but was still behind the six applications per 1,000 registered by fellow Mediterranean island State Cyprus.

Both Malta and Cyprus received asylum applications well over the EU27 average of 0.4 per 1,000 citizens in 2006.

Over the last five years, the number of asylum requests lodged in Cyprus has almost trippled, but Malta, with its eightfold increase, leads the ranks in the growing African-European migratory trends.

“This,” Eurostat said in its findings, “clearly reflects the geographical location of these countries on the main routes of asylum seekers entering the EU and their growing attractiveness for people seeking asylum.”

The number of asylum requests by migrants landing in Malta had stood, per 1,000 citizens, at 1.2 in 2003, 2.5 in 2004, 2.9 in 2005 and 3.1 last year.

The bulk of asylum applications filed in Malta in 2006 were lodged by Eritreans, with 390 asylum requests. They were followed by Somalis (205), Sudanese (180), Ethiopians (125), Nigerians (75) and applications from other countries at 295. With the exception of the UK, Malta was the only country with most asylum applications being lodged by Eritrean citizens.

This makes a marked contrast to 2003’s trends, according to Eurostat figures, in which just 30 Eritreans, 115 Somalis, and no significant numbers of Sudanese, Nigerians or Ethiopians applied for asylum.

Figures supplied by Eurostat date back to 1985 but data from Malta was available from 1997. In 1997 Malta received 70 new requests for asylum – a figure that had grown consistently until 2003, when 455 such applications were filed.

Asylum applications exploded the following year, with 995 being registered in 2004, 1,165 in 2005 and 1,270 – according to still provisional data – last year. Malta was one of eight EU member States that saw rises in the number of asylum applications last year – along with Italy, Portugal, Holland, Hungary, Greece, Sweden and Latvia – while the rest of the EU registered distinct drops.

Across the EU in general in 2006 there were over 15 per cent fewer asylum applications in the EU-27 compared to the previous year.

In just five years, the number of applications has fallen by more than half.

The number of applications last year fell in most member States, with Slovenia reporting a drop of nearly 70 per cent, Latvia 60 per cent and Cyprus, Austria and France around 40 per cent.

Several countries noted an increase in asylum applications, with Lithuania up 44 per cent, Sweden 38 per cent, Greece 35 per cent and Hungary nearly 32 per cent.

With almost 27,900 applications lodged last year, the UK was ahead of France’s 26,300, Sweden’s 24,300 and Germany’s 21,000.

The main countries of origin of those seeking asylum in the EU in 2006 were Iraq, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Afghanistan and Turkey.

In 2006, one tenth of all asylum applications in the EU were submitted by Iraqis. With 19,200 claims, they were the largest group of asylum seekers, replacing Serbia and Montenegro at the top.

The number of asylum seekers from Iraq in the EU has increased rapidly in 2006 and has almost doubled compared to 2005.

Russian citizens lodged the second highest number of claims for asylum in the EU (12,800) in 2006, after having been the largest group of asylum seekers in 2003.

However, while Russians accounted for a large share of all applications registered in EU-15 countries and new member States, Iraqis and citizens of Serbia and Montenegro made up only a relatively small group of asylum seekers in Central and Eastern Europe.

Russians accounted for about 90 per cent of all asylum claims in Poland and nearly 70 per cent in Lithuania.