[caption id="attachment_2185" align="alignleft" width="1000"] As of July 3, an additional 227 residents were living in open reception centres[/caption] According to UNHCR, the United Nations refugee agency, from the beginning of 2023 to August 13, 231 migrants entered Malta by sea. 65% (149) of arrivals this year came from Bangladesh, followed by 9% (21) from Syria, 8% (19) from Guinea, 7% (17) from Cameroon, 6% (13) from Egypt , 2 % (5) from Sudan and 1% (3 each) from Palestine and South Sudan. Additionally, a person's nationality was unclear because their health condition prevented their registration. That total includes two medical evacuations, the organization said in a fact sheet released Friday. This represents a threefold increase in arrivals to Malta compared to the same period in 2022, where 75 people arrived in Malta by sea. This number is 458 in 2021 and 2,045 in 2020. Up from 65% in 2021 and 80% in 2022, 195 (84%) of immigrants so far this year are adult men. Additionally, 9% (20) were children, of whom only two were accompanied, while 7% (16) were adult women. As of 3 July, there were an additional 210 residents living in the community and 227 people living in reception centers open in Malta. In the first half of 2023, there were 282 asylum applications; 225 of these were initial claims, 54 were subsequent claims, and 3 were reopened or under review. Citizens of Syria, Sudan and Bangladesh are the three countries that request asylum the most. Throughout the year, the International Protection Agency issued 1,160 first instance rulings as of June 30. The refusal rate was 36% (421) compared to the recognition rate of 16% (178). Syrians, Eritreans and Somalis received international protection after an average of 2.6 years, 2.4 years and 2.7 years, respectively. It took an average of 2.9 years for Sudanese applications to be rejected, 3.3 years for Syrian cases, 2.5 years for Somali cases and about 54 days for case of Bangladesh. As of August 13, Malta had issued 420 temporary protection certificates to eligible people fleeing the conflict in Ukraine. As of February 2022, a total of 2,055 certificates have been distributed. With the exception of three candidates – a woman and an adult man from Russia, as well as an adult man from Georgia – the majority of 2023 candidates are of Ukrainian origin.