Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Data collection on Dublin statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection:
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACO);
Pending ‘Dublin’ incoming requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENI);
Pending ‘Dublin’ outgoing requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFO);
Incoming responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESI);
Outgoing responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESO);
Unilateral ‘Dublin’ decisions by partner country, type of decision, sex and type of applicant (DUNI);
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DI);
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DO);
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACI);
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TO);
Pending incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENI);
Pending outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENO).
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Dublin statistics.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024'.
3.5. Statistical unit
The text of Art.4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 on Migration and international protection refers, in general, to statistics based on the number of persons and not on the number of applications. However, the article describing the 'Dublin' statistics (Art.4.4) refers to statistics based on the number of requests. Commission services recommend that Art.4.4 (more precisely 4.4.a, 4.4.c and 4.4.d) is interpreted as referring to the number of persons concerned by each request, decision, and transfer.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
3.7. Reference area
Malta.
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
All work carried out by NSO is regulated by the Malta Statistics Authority Act, 2000. Dublin Statistics have been collected and published in line with Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007, amended by Regulation (EC) No. 851/2020 as from reference year 2008.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
All data collected, processed and disseminated by the NSO is done so in terms of the Malta Statistics Authority Act and in line with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations allowing for data to be shared for statistical purposes.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not applicable.
8.1. Release calendar
NSO is a member of the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) Committee, which sets dissemination standards set by the International Monetary Fund with a view of enhancing the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics in order to support macroeconomic policies. As a member of the SDDS Committee, NSO satisfies a number of criteria, which also entails the provision of an advanced news release calendar.
8.2. Release calendar access
NSO news release calendar is available on this website (Release calendar).
8.3. Release policy - user access
NSO adheres to internal policies directly related to the user's access to statistical data; one of which being a Dissemination Policy. Due to the importance of the area of demographic statistics, it is imperative that statistics are made available to all users, as soon as possible. In some cases, these statistics are provided on provisional basis and are therefore subject to revisions.
Annual.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not applicable.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not applicable.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Detailed information can be downloaded from Eurostat's online database.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Micro-data is not available.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
NSO follows the methodological recommendations stipulated by Eurostat and the relevant Regulation/Directives in order to ensure harmonisation of results. NSO also documents all work processes involved in the compilation of these statistics, which are currently available for internal purposes.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not applicable.
11.1. Quality assurance
Consistency checks on the aggregate data between related tables. Aggregate time-series comparisons are conducted to outline any trends which may need to be reviewed and validated with the source.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Statistics within the domain are assessed to be of good quality.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The statistics collected under Regulation (EC) 862/2007, amended by Regulation (EC) No. 851/2020 are used by a wide range of users at national, European and International level to cover various usersʼ needs.
Users of Dublin statistics : Users of Dublin statistics include the European Migration Network (EMN), UNHCR, national entities, press, students and researchers.
Unmet user needs (on statistics) and reasons why these needs cannot be satisfied (at national and international level) : Currently, all requirements stipulated by the regulation, are being met.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Overall accuracy for the domain is said to be high.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Deemed to be negligible.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Such errors may be possible due to human error but are likely negligible.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Deadline stipulated by the regulation has generally always been met.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Not applicable.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Not applicable.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data provided follows all Eurostat guidelines. Data covers entire geographic territory for Malta.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Coherence checks across domains are not possible as no other sources or outputs capture the data related to Dublin.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Only annual figures provided.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Figures are compared with previous years data and any fluctuations are discussed with the source. Coherence checks across other sources are not possible as no other sources or outputs capture the data related to Dublin.
Dublin data tables are numerous and complex requiring a comprehensive understanding of the Dublin legislation and system to complete. Due to the limited technical resources within the Dublin Unit which provides data related to these submissions, the NSO has begun assisting in data extraction as of reference year 2022 following a request from them for assistance in compiling the tables. This constituted additional workload for the NSO to develop extraction procedures to compile these tables.
17.1. Data revision - policy
The manner with which figures are revised, if necessary, follows the guidelines of the European Statistics Code of Practice and Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
Data is collected from the Dublin Unit within the International Protection Agency. The data is provided in tables required to satisfy Regulation (EU) No. 862/2007 amended by Regulation (EU) 851/2020.
18.4. Data validation
Validation checks are conducted on aggregate counts - consistency checks are conducted by comparing data to previous time series. Face validity is conducted by the Dublin Unit to assess the outputs based on their expert knowledge of the Dublin procedure in Malta.
18.5. Data compilation
As of reference year 2022 the NSO is assisting the Dublin Unit to extract data to compile the tables. An extensive exercise was undertaken to write extraction procedures in R in line with the Eurostat guidelines and to automate the extraction processes previously implemented by the Dublin Unit using their administrative data records. The extraction procedure is implemented by the NSO in the beginning of the year following agreement on the date of extraction. Any missing information highlighted by the NSO is checked and where possible, updated by the source. Final aggregate tables are compared to previous years data to validate the extractions and are reviewed by the source prior to submission.
Data collection on Dublin statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.4 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection:
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (REDACO);
Pending ‘Dublin’ incoming requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENI);
Pending ‘Dublin’ outgoing requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of request, sex and type of applicant (RPENO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, sex and type of applicant (RINFO);
Incoming responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESI);
Outgoing responses to ‘Dublin’ requests for information by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of response, sex and type of applicant (RESO);
Unilateral ‘Dublin’ decisions by partner country, type of decision, sex and type of applicant (DUNI);
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DI);
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DO);
Decisions on incoming ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by submitting country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACI);
Decisions on outgoing ‘Dublin’ requests based on EURODAC by receiving country (PARTNER), type of decision, type of request, legal provision, sex and type of applicant (DEDACO);
Incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TI);
Outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), legal provision, duration of transfer, sex and type of applicant (TO);
Pending incoming ‘Dublin’ transfers by submitting country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENI);
Pending outgoing ‘Dublin’ transfers by receiving country (PARTNER), sex and type of applicant (TPENO).
18 September 2025
See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024'.
The text of Art.4 of the Regulation (EC) 862/2007 on Migration and international protection refers, in general, to statistics based on the number of persons and not on the number of applications. However, the article describing the 'Dublin' statistics (Art.4.4) refers to statistics based on the number of requests. Commission services recommend that Art.4.4 (more precisely 4.4.a, 4.4.c and 4.4.d) is interpreted as referring to the number of persons concerned by each request, decision, and transfer.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
Malta.
Calendar year.
Overall accuracy for the domain is said to be high.
Number of persons.
As of reference year 2022 the NSO is assisting the Dublin Unit to extract data to compile the tables. An extensive exercise was undertaken to write extraction procedures in R in line with the Eurostat guidelines and to automate the extraction processes previously implemented by the Dublin Unit using their administrative data records. The extraction procedure is implemented by the NSO in the beginning of the year following agreement on the date of extraction. Any missing information highlighted by the NSO is checked and where possible, updated by the source. Final aggregate tables are compared to previous years data to validate the extractions and are reviewed by the source prior to submission.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
Annual.
Deadline stipulated by the regulation has generally always been met.
Data provided follows all Eurostat guidelines. Data covers entire geographic territory for Malta.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Dublin 2024’.
