Malta's illegal boat arrivals rise slightly as EU fast-tracks

Eight boats carrying 246 migrants arrived illegally in Malta during 2025, up from six boats and 238 arrivals the year before, in figures the National Statistics Office published on World Refugee Day. The EU also approved new asylum procedure regulations in 2025 enabling faster-track deportations across the bloc. The scale of EU-wide enforcement last year dwarfs Malta's numbers.

Of the 491,950 third-country nationals ordered to leave member states in 2025—a 5.8% increase on 2024—some 135,460 were actually returned to a third country, a jump of 20.9%. Germany completed the most returns of any EU member state, ahead of France and Sweden. Citizens of Turkey, Georgia, Syria, and Albania accounted for the largest national groups among those sent back.

The broader demographic picture of people arriving in Europe showed 41.3% originating from Asia. Syrians were the single largest nationality, making up 22.9% of all arrivals, and 54.5% of those reaching the continent were between 18 and 34 years old. In Malta specifically, 211 people were living in open centres at the end of 2025, a 9.3% rise year-on-year.

The Ħal Far facility absorbed 93.8% of all open centre residents. Males made up 80.6% of residents across all sites. Sudanese citizens formed the largest national group at 15.2%, followed by Somali nationals at 11.8%.

A distinct group of 2,493 people held temporary protection status in Malta at the close of the year. Nearly all of them—99.2%—were Ukrainian nationals, and their profile differed sharply from those in open centres: 66.8% were female and 23.3% were minors aged 17 or under. Formal movement out of Malta remained limited in 2025.

Thirty-six people were relocated from Malta to another EU member state, two were resettled to a country outside the EU, and a further 23 left through Assisted Voluntary Return programmes.