During 2021, 17 boat landings were recorded in Malta, with 838 persons being brought to Maltese shores (including persons air lifted at sea), a decrease of 63.3% when compared to 2020, the National Statistics Office said.

The majority of persons brought to shore (81%) were citizens of African countries while the remaining 19% were citizens of Asian countries. July saw the highest recorded number of persons being brought to shore, 164 individuals, followed by arrivals in October and December, at 143 and 134 individuals, respectively.

A total of 1,517 applications for asylum were lodged with the International Protection Agency (IPA) during 2021 - a decrease of 38.9% over the previous year. When analysing asylum applications per million resident population across the Member States within the European Union (EU), Malta had the third highest rate per capita after Cyprus and Austria. Most of the applicants were citizens of African countries (73.6%) with the largest proportion of the total applicants being Sudanese citizens (13.9%). This was followed by relatively similar proportions for Syrian and Eritrean citizens, at 13% and 11.3%, respectively.

A large proportion of the applicants (67.4%) were males aged between 18 and 34.

During 2021, the IPA processed a total of 809 applications; 22.2% were granted a positive decision at first instance, while the remaining applications were rejected (77.8%). When compared to the other EU Member States, this ranks Malta fourth lowest with respect to the share of positive first decisions on applications in 2021. Ireland had the highest share of positive first decisions at 94.4% with Slovenia having the lowest share of positive decisions at 9.7%.

Of all the applicants granted a form of protection status at first instance during 2021, 38.9% were of Eritrean citizenship followed by Syrian and Libyan citizens at 26.1% and 20%, respectively. A total of 730 appeals on first instance decisions were filed with the International Protection Appeals Tribunal in 2021, which is comparable to the previous year.

During 2021, the International Protection Appeals Tribunal processed 605 appeals, all of which were rejected.

Within the EU, Malta, Luxembourg, and Portugal rejected all the appeals on first decisions processed within their country in 2021. Hungary reported 0 final instance decisions taken on appeals in 2021. At the end of 2021, there were 4,013 pending decisions on applications for asylum, a decrease of 21.9% from the previous year. Of these pending decisions, 3,262 were pending a first decision from the IPA and 751 were pending the final decision on appeals filed with the International Protection Appeals Tribunal.