Fifty-five people were granted refugee protection last year, according to the information tabled in parliament by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri.
The minister was replying to a parliamentary question by Nationalist MP Jerome Caruana Cilia.
Caruna Cilia also asked Camilleri how many people had their refugee status taken away from them last year, to which Camilleri replied 11 people.
The Ethiopian community in Malta said in August last year that it was “in shock” and “living in fear” as dozens of people, who had been living and working legally in Malta for up to 19 years, were being arrested at their place of work, sent to detention and told they will be sent back to Ethiopia as they could not be granted refugee status.
In December, three Ethiopian men lost a court battle to put their removal on hold while they battles an earlier court decision. The court ruled that they had no extraordinary ties to Malta, despite living most of their adult life on the island, and that their claims about facing persecution if returned to Ethiopia had already been examined and dismissed.
Malta welcomed roughly 75 per cent more migrants per capita than any other EU member state in 2023, according to recent data.
That year, some 76 migrants moved to Malta for every 1,000 people in the population, Eurostat data shows.
This was significantly higher than other member states in the EU, with the second-highest Cyprus reporting 43 new immigrants per 1,000 people.
Malta saw a total of 600 new applications for asylum last year, with 2023 ending with 833 cases pending, according to a new report.
The report, published by the Asylum Information Database (AIDA) managed by the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, contains detailed information on asylum procedures, detention conditions and international protection across 23 countries, including Malta.
According to the report, Malta received a total of 600 new applications, made up of 491 first applications, 76 subsequent and 33 new ones. The year ended with a large backlog of 833 cases.