The majority of divorces obtained overseas and registered in Malta involved foreigners and only an average of 11 Maltese couples a year, the anti-divorce movement revealed yesterday.

The “insignificant” number amounted to less than 0.5 per cent when considering that, on average, 2,400 marriages were registered in Malta every year, and showed that the picture painted by the pro-divorce movement was deceptive, the anti camp said.

The findings were the result of research by the Moviment Żwieġ Bla Divorzju, which studied the number of divorces obtained overseas and registered in Malta between 2000 and 2010 and found that almost three out of every four were between foreigners, or between a foreigner and a Maltese.

During the campaign for the introduction of “divorce without reason”, a deceptive picture had been painted of the large number of Maltese couples that were resorting to divorce outside Malta, it said. But the study showed this was untrue and that the majority of divorces registered in Malta involved foreigners.

Anti-divorce movement chairman Andrè Camilleri expressed his concern about the half truths the campaign in favour was resorting to so as to try and “distract the public in their decision on such a sensitive issue as is the permanence of the institution of marriage”.

He said it was “worrying that the people who are supposed to understand this field do not explain the truth of the facts to promote their message”.

Dr Camilleri said it “confirms what we have been saying, that before taking a decision on the subject, a detailed study has to be carried out on the current situation and the impact of divorce on the family and children”.