National Statistics Office, Malta

Population and Migration 

National Statistics Office
Lascaris
Valletta VLT 2000
Malta

Data collection on asylum statistics contains statistical information based on the Article 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 of Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 on Community statistics on migration and international protection.

Asylum applications:

• Asylum, first time and subsequent applicants by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Persons subject of asylum applications pending at the end of month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Asylum applications withdrawn by citizenship, age, sex and type of withdrawal (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Asylum applicants having had their applications processed under the accelerated procedure by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Applicants having benefited from material reception conditions at the end of the reference year;
• Asylum applicants considered to be unaccompanied minors by citizenship, age and sex.

Decisions on asylum applications:

• First instance decisions on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Decisions withdrawing status granted at first instance decision by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Final decisions in appeal or review on applications by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Decisions withdrawing status granted as final decision in appeal or review by citizenship, type of decision and type of reason (also for unaccompanied minors).

Resettled persons:

• Resettled persons by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and country of previous residence;
• Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and type of decision;
• Resettled persons by citizenship, age, sex and resettlement framework. 

In March 2022, the European Commission activated the Temporary Protection Directive 2001/55/EC for people from Ukraine seeking refugee.

Temporary protection:

• Decisions granting temporary protection by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors);
• Beneficiaries of temporary protection at the end of the month by citizenship, age and sex (also for unaccompanied minors).

See table 3.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Migration and asylum – Asylum statistics.

See table 3.4. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Persons.

See table 3.6. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

The Maltese Islands also known as Malta.

See table 3.8. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Not applicable.

Number of persons.

Calendar month, calendar quarter and calendar year.

The NSO, as an office set up by the Malta Statistics Authority Act, aims to comply with both national and European Data Protection and statistical legislation, the said Act – Chapter 422 of the Laws of Malta, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act – Chapter 586 of the Laws of Malta. 

Information provided to the NSO is treated as confidential. This information is used solely in the compilation of statistical reports. No information on individual returns can be given to any external public or private entity.

The General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (Cap 586 of the Laws of Malta) regulate the processing of personal data whether held electronically or in manual form. The NSO is set to fully comply with the data protection principles as set out in the Data Protection legislation. The basic principles by which the NSO processes the personal data of the public, business partners and other individuals are set out in the Personal Data Protection Policy, which also indicates the responsibilities of its business departments and employees while processing personal data. All NSO statistical officers undertake the oath of secrecy as prescribed by the Malta Statistics Authority Act.  The oath places added legal responsibility on the officers of statistics to make appropriate use of the data being handled. Further information can be found in the following link: https://nso.gov.mt/privacy-policy/

For data disseminated by Eurostat, rounding is applied prior to dissemination.

In the case of national data dissemination, while only aggregate data is disseminated, tables are reviewed for possible confidentiality issues as a result of breakdowns and small counts. When issues arise numbers are suppressed or categories regrouped to avoid counts smaller than 3 in a cell.

Data can be downloaded directly from Eurostat website or users can contact the National Statistics Office. Figures are also published nationally in an annual News Release.

Data is published annually in the News Release published to mark World Refugee Day which is available online. The NSO online calendar is accessible through this link: https://nso.gov.mt/calendars/

Calendar is available online at: https://nso.gov.mt/calendars/

An advanced release calendar is published online. Requests may also be made to the NSO directly for any additional data.

Dissemination is conducted annually through a news release published on World Refugee Day. Data are published regularly on Eurostat database.

Data are published annually in the News Release published on World Refugee Day which is available online.

Not applicable.

Currently not available nationally. Data available on Eurostat database.

Not applicable.

Micro-data are not disseminated.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Methodological notes published with accompanying news releases on the NSO website.

Not applicable.

See 11. Quality management.

The NSO has a commitment to quality management and this is ingrained in the NSO’s operations. Moreover, rigorous standards for confidentiality and data protection were validated by ISO 27001 certification in 2019. The NSO also maintains a dedicated website related to metadata reporting which can be found here: NSO Metadata (gov.mt)

 In October of 2022, the National Statistics Office (NSO) underwent a peer review conducted by a team of European experts. This review aimed to evaluate the NSO’s operations and its adherence to the European Statistical System’s (ESS) Code of Practice.

In October of 2022, the National Statistics Office (NSO) underwent a peer review conducted by a team of European experts. The team formulated a total of sixteen recommendations, consisting of two compliance-related suggestions and fourteen improvement-oriented ones. These recommendations were categorised into four overarching themes:

• Enhancing Governance, Coordination, and Resource Allocation
• Reinforcing Quality Management
• Modernizing Statistical Processes and Approaches through Innovation and Efficiency
• Enhancing the Recognition and Value of Official Statistics through Improved Communication

More details are available here: https://nso.gov.mt/peer-review-report/

The statistics collected under this domain are used by a wide range of users at national, European and International level to cover various users' needs.

Users of Asylum statistics: 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): further information may be requested but information available only covers data that are collected in the administrative process. For example, for applications and decisions, only information that is relevant to the application for asylum is collected.

Information on the user satisfaction survey conducted by the NSO can be found here: https://nso.gov.mt/user-satisfaction-survey/

See table 12.3. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Not applicable.

The reported statistics measure accurately the target population, as foreseen by Regulation 862/2007 and as defined in the Technical Guidelines for Asylum statistics. Processing of asylum applicants is conducted through single centralised entities and these are the sources for the data used to compile the statistics. Coverage is considered to be complete.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

This is generally not applicable since estimates are not based on a sample. Data processed within this domain emerges from a centralised system that has full coverage of the target population.

These are expected to be low since coverage is deemed to be complete and the entire population is included.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

While processing errors are possible they are expected to be insignificant. Established querying procedures are in place to ensure consistency of data extraction. Data come from a centralised database where completeness is high.

Not applicable.

All data processed and submitted within the regulated deadlines.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

See table 14.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Not applicable.

Estimates are produced at the national level. All guidelines outlined by Eurostat are followed in data compilation therefore data can be considered comparable with other MS.

Not applicable.

See table 15.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Not applicable.

Coherence with other statistics is not possible since the data compiled is only available from the sources which are being used for data production.

The data sources used in the compilation of statistical tables on persons seeking international protection are also used for the compilation of migration statistics within the domain of demography however due to methodological differences and differences in the definition of the population within this the domain, the estimates may not be fully comparable.

The same data sources are used for monthly, quarterly and annual tables where applicable. While changes may occur in the data due to updates in the asylum process along the time period, sub-annual and annual data are considered coherent.

Not applicable.

The data used to compile these statistics has been maintained by the same stakeholders and have been provided to us routinely since these statistics have been compiled. Any changes in the data fields that were implemented by the source aimed to fulfill new requirements for our statistical production. Apart from these required changes, the data has remained consistent with time in terms of content and structure.

Given that the deadlines presented by Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007 are continuous, the production of such figures present a considerable burden for the national authorities involved. 

Revisions within the domain are conducted on an ad hoc basis if deemed necessary. In most instances this would be following the identification of errors, possible changes in national policies which govern the asylum process or the identification of new sources which would improve the quality of the data.

The manner with which figures are revised if necessary follow the guidelines of the European Statistics Code of Practice and Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007.

See table 17.2. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Not applicable.

See table 18.1. in annex ‘Quality report tables Asylum 2023’.

Monthly, quarterly and annually

International Protection Agency (IPA): Since January 2019 the National Statistics Office has direct access to the updated system recording applications for asylum as registered and maintained by the IPA. Data are processed and used to compile tables in line with Regulation (EU) No. 862/2007. Prior to 2019, the data collection system used by the IPA (then the Office of the Refugee Commissioner) was hosted and managed by the National Statistics Office. 

International Protection Appeals Tribunal: Data collected from the International Protection Appeals Tribunal covers appeals on decisions taken by the IPA. It is then processed and used in the compilation of the data tables required to satisfy Regulation (EU) No. 862/2007.

There are several steps:

• Check that the population coverage is accurate, as required according to the definitions of the Technical guidelines;
• Compare the data with data of previous periods;
• Check for outliers;
• Investigate inconsistencies in the statistics (checking the consistency of "Total" values over each variable);
• Verify the statistics against expectations and domain intelligence.

Data is compiled according to the Technical Guidelines provided in line with Regulation (EC) No. 862/2007. Querying procedures have been developed based on the guidelines and ensure consistency in extraction over time. Any issues in the data and final outputs that are flagged during validation are discussed with the data source.

Not applicable.

Not applicable

No statistical technique applied.