A total of 1,100 foreigners were granted Maltese citizenship in 2012, according to statistics published by Eurostat yesterday.

The majority of the new citizens originated from Australia (22.3 per cent), followed by holders of UK (14 per cent), Russian (6.4 per cent) and American (5.4 per cent) passports.

Eurostat said that in 2012, Malta granted 2.7 new citizenships for every 1,000 inhabitants.

Although this rate is higher than the EU average, which stood at 1.6 per 1,000 inhabitants, it is much lower than that in many other EU member states.

In 2012, Malta granted 2.7 passports for every 100,000 inhabitants – higher than the EU average

The majority of new citizens, 800 of the 1,100, originated from non-EU member states.

Until 2012, only citizens who satisfied certain criteria, including the need to reside in Malta for five years, could apply to acquire Maltese citizenship.

However, following the introduction by the government of the individual investor programme last year, rich non-EU residents could acquire Maltese citizenship, provided they met a number of requirements.

These include a one-time payment of €650,000 and investment in Maltese property or bonds. They will also have to present proof of residency in Malta of at least 12 months.

According to EU data, 818,000 persons acquired citizenship of an EU member state in 2012, up four per cent compared to 2011.

The highest naturalisation rate was registered in Luxembourg (8.7 per 1,000 inhabitants), Ireland (5.5) and Sweden (5.3).

Three-quarters of those that acquired EU citizenship became citizens of one of the following states: the UK (194,000), Germany (114,600), France (96,100), Spain (94,100), Italy (65,400) and Sweden (50,200).

A quarter of the new EU citizens originated from Morocco, Turkey, India and Ecuador.