65% of migrant arrivals in Malta this year were from Bangladesh

65% of the total 231 migrants who arrived in Malta by sea up to 13 August this year were from Bangladesh, according to UNHCR, the UN refugee agency.

In a factsheet published on Friday (25 August), the agency said the total number of migrants included two medical evacuations. 

In the year 2022, the total number of migrants arriving in Malta was 75. The number was 458 in 2021 and 2,045 in 2020. 

Of this year's arrivals, 149 or 65% were Bangladeshi, while 21 were Syrians, 8% Guinean, 7% Cameroonian, 6% Egyptian, 2% Sudanese and 1% were Palestinian and South Sudanese. 

In the year 2022, 51% of the arrivals were Bangladesh, 28% Syrian and 8% Egyptian. UNHCR says this year marked a change in the composition of nationalities of arrivals in comparison to last year. 

Meanwhile, there were 282 applications for asylum in the first half of 2023. 225 of the applications were first-time, 54 were subsequent, and three were re-opened or reviewed.

Nationals from Bangladesh, Sudan and Syria were among the top three nationalities applying for asylum. 

By 30 June, the International Protection Agency had issued 1,160 decisions at first-instance. The recognition rate stood at 16% (178), while the rejection rate stood at 36% (421).

The average waiting time for a first-instance decision (substantive, grant or rejection) issued in 2023 was 2.3 years.

International protection was granted on average after 2.6 years for Syrians, 2.4 years for Eritreans and 2.7 years for Somalis. 

The average time for rejected cases stood at 2.9 years for Sudanese, 3.3 years for Syrians, 2.5 years for Somali and almost 54 days for Bangladeshis.