Crime across Malta is on the rise with 17,586 cases reported last year, representing a 47.1 per cent increase compared with 2009.

This trend emerged from government data recently tabled in Parliament in reply to a parliamentary question by Opposition MP Claudio Grech.

The statistics were spread over the five years between 2009 and 2013 and listed all crimes reported in the 68 local councils across Malta and Gozo.

As expected the highest incidence of crimes was reported in touristic areas.

Last year St Julian’s – which includes Paceville and St George’s Bay – topped the list with 2,915 cases, followed by Sliema (1,062) and St Paul’s Bay (1,059).

This pattern was also evident over the past five years, with the number of crimes in St Julian’s numbering 11,803.

St Paul’s Bay was second with 5,302 and Sliema third with 4,705 cases.

However, over the half-decade the number of cases in St Julian’s almost doubled from 1,600 in 2009 to nearly 3,000 last year.

The other notable rise was in Cospicua, where there was a dramatic increase over a 12-month period.

Between 2012 and 2013 crimes more than trebled from 190 to 741, meaning Cospicua last year had the fifth-highest crime rate.

On the other hand, the safest localities were in Gozo, with a number of villages occupying the bottom of the crime league table both on a yearly basis as well over the five-year period under review.

In particular, Fontana and San Lawrenz boasted lower crime rates, with just five cases in 2012 and 2009 respectively.

The lowest rates in Malta were in Mdina, Mtarfa and Għargħur.

From a separate reply in Parliament, it emerged that crime was becoming more globalised, with convicted foreigners hailing from an increasing number of countries.

According to the Home Affairs Ministry in 2009 these came from 15 countries, mainly European, but by last year the number of nations on the list increased to 37.

This rise was mainly due to nationals arriving from African countries such as Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia and Sudan, as well as other non-European nationals from Iraq, the US, Jordan, Egypt, Israel and Uzbekistan.

Yugoslavia was included in the 2009 data, even though this country ceased to exist in 1992.

Most incidents in 2013