Malta takes in more asylum seekers than EU average: Eurostat

VALLETTA, April 19 (Xinhua) -- Malta has taken in more asylum seekers in terms of per million population rate than EU average, reported Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union (EU), on Thursday.

According to Eurostat, Malta's burden was 1,770 asylum seekers per million population, higher than the EU average of 1,050. Germany, which took the largest number by far 325,400, had a per million population rate of 3,945.

The Mediterranean island granted protection to 815 people in 2017, out of the total of 538,000 cases EU-wide. This is above the EU average on a per capita basis.

Libyans constituted the largest group of those granted asylum in Malta, followed by Syrians and Eritreans.

This differs from the situation in the wider EU, where almost one-third of those granted asylum were from Syria, followed by Afghans and Iraqis.

The number of Syrian citizens granted asylum status has fallen since 2016, when they accounted for a share of 57 percent of all granted asylum, but they are still the largest group granted protection status in 18 member states in 2017.

Of the 175,800 Syrian citizens granted protection status in the EU, more than 70 percent received protection status in Germany. Enditem