VALLETTA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- Malta received 475 first time asylum applicants in the third quarter, an increase of 19 percent over the second quarter, Eurostat data revealed on Thursday.
Among EU member states, the highest rate of first time applicants registered in the third quarter was recorded in Germany, with 2,890 first time applicants per million inhabitants, followed by Greece with 1,152 and Malta with 1,091.
By contrast, the lowest rates were observed in Slovakia with seven applicants per million inhabitants, Portugal with 19 and Romania with 22.
A total of 702 first time asylum applicants per million inhabitants in the EU as a whole were recorded in the third quarter of 2016.
The highest number of first time applicants was registered in Germany with 66 percent of total first time applicants in the EU member states.
