Since 2001, World Refugee Day has been celebrated internationally every 20th of June. To mark this occasion, the NSO is releasing a set of statistics which document the local scene.

During 2008, 84 boats carrying 2,775 irregular immigrants reached Maltese shores. When compared to the previous year, the number of boats increased by 24 per cent, translating into 1,073 more irregular immigrants.

The increase in recorded arrivals is reflected in the higher number of new applications for asylum filed with the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees, which almost doubled. These amounted to 2,608. The absolute majority of applicants were from Africans.

In 2008, 2,697 asylum decisions were taken by the Office of the Commissioner for Refugees. Of these, 19 applicants were granted refugee status, 1,397 obtained subsidiary or other forms of protection, while 1,281 applications were rejected. More than 80 per cent of these positive decisions were granted to males, while 89 were taken in respect of children under 18.

In December 2008, 1,625 persons were residing in Open Centres. A further 270 were living in other institutional households. Of the population in Open Centres, 7 per cent were minors.

In 2008, 3,013 third-country nationals were found to be illegally residing in Malta and were subject to an obligation to leave this country. The majority of these were aged between 18 and 34. In the same year, the Police coordinated a total of 303 returns to a third country.

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