Boat arrivals have been on the decline since 2020, particularly since Malta and Libya signed a memorandum of understanding on illegal migration. When the pandemic came around in 2020, the number of boat arrivals remained steady up until autumn, which saw arrivals decrease suddenly. As part of the memorandum, Malta is hosting a Libyan officer who is stationed at the Malta-Libya Coordination Centre in Malta. The other top countries of origin among sea arrivals in 2022 were Syria (28%), Egypt (8%), Lebanon (7%) and Palestine (4%). While Eritrean and Sudanese people made up almost 40% of arrivals in 2021, there were no sea arrivals whatsoever from Eritrea and Sudan the following year.
