Malta’s Exceptional Investor Naturalization (MEIN) program generated approximately €199 million in total capital inflows during 2024, a 73% increase over 2023’s €115 million.
The data come from the 11th annual report of Malta’s Office of the Regulator, covering the program’s final full calendar year before the European Court of Justice struck it down in April 2025.
Malta scrapped the MEIN three months after the ruling.
The Community Malta Agency (CMA) received 409 eligibility applications in 2024, up from 299 the prior year. That 37% jump gave Malta its third-highest annual intake ever, behind only the 484 the predecessor Individual Investor Programme (IIP) received in 2015 and the 436 in 2016. Total MEIN eligibility applications since the program’s 2020 launch reached 958.
On the output side, Malta approved 183 citizenship applications, naturalized 179 main applicants (173 under the MEIN, six from the legacy IIP pipeline), and granted citizenship to 362 dependents. Rejections and applicant withdrawals across both programs totaled 50 files. The non-approval rate at eligibility stage held at 23%.
Male main applicants made up 77% of the 2024 cohort, consistent with the 80% historical average. Female representation did tick up four percentage points from 2023’s 19%.
Asian applicants remained the dominant source market at 42%. North Americans followed at 17%, matching the share of applicants who already held multiple citizenships before applying. Europeans came fourth at 13%, a fraction of the 45% they commanded in 2015 when Russian nationals drove the category.
Russians remain frozen out under EU sanctions, and the Regulator noted volumes would have been “much higher” without the suspension. By contrast, demand from North America had “increased substantially,” a trend the Regulator specifically called out.
Contributions formed the bulk of 2024’s inflows at €166 million. Real estate purchases across both programs added €13 million, with rental commitments, bond investments, fees, and charitable donations accounting for the remainder.
Over the combined lifetime of both the MEIN and the IIP, contributions have generated approximately €1.43 billion.
Real estate purchases brought in €249 million, bonds (under the IIP only) €237 million, rents €145 million, and fees €62 million.
Cumulative distributions from both programs stood at roughly €1.3 billion. The National Development and Social Fund (NDSF) had received €711 million, the Consolidated Fund €442 million. The government agencies running the program across its various incarnations (Identity Malta, MIIPA, and the CMA) absorbed €91 million.
Henley & Partners, the IIP’s original concessionaire, earned €56 million over the programs’ combined lifetime. Approximately €21 million sat in suspense accounts at year-end.
Only 2% of 2024 applicants chose to buy property; 98% leased. That was the lowest purchase rate in the combined history of both programs, half of 2023’s 5% and well below the ten-year average of 9%.
Average lease values over the obligatory five-year contract dipped to €96,000 from €103,000 the year before, while average purchase prices rose to €2.32 million from €2.23 million.
The near-total shift toward leasing explains a counterintuitive result: Real estate purchase inflows barely grew despite the 37% surge in applications. Property purchase revenue reached €13 million in 2024, just €1.5 million more than 2023.
Sliema and St Julians dominated throughout. Across the full history of Malta’s citizenship by investment (CBI) programs, buyers had purchased 122 properties in those two localities (Sliema holds a slight edge).
Renters had leased 517 homes in Sliema and 281 in St Julians. Gozo, despite favorable pricing under the old IIP, had attracted just three purchases and 56 rentals over the programs’ combined history.
The 2024 data are the final chapter for a program that no longer exists. In October 2024, the ECJ’s Advocate General recommended dismissing the Commission’s case. The Grand Chamber disagreed.
Malta had revoked the CBI citizenship of six individuals since the programs launched, with four more deprivation proceedings at an advanced stage. One case involved an Israeli former intelligence officer and spyware CEO placed on US sanctions lists; another a Russian national convicted of money laundering in the UK. The CMA reported 16 cases to Malta’s Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) for suspected money laundering during 2024.
Across both programs since 2014, Malta naturalized 6,152 individuals: 1,830 main applicants and 4,322 dependents. The IIP reached 86% of its statutory 1,800-person cap before the MEIN replaced it.
