Malta chalked up the second highest growth rate of population in the EU in 2012.

Statistics published by Eurostat reveal that while, naturally, Malta’s population grew by 0.7 per thousand inhabitants, the island registered a 3.1 per 1,000 boost due to an influx of migrants. Only Luxembourg grew at a higher rate.

The statistics record the population at the end of last year as 421,400.

While 3,400 deaths were registered in 2012, there were 4,100 births – a net increase of 700.

However, like previous years, the largest contribution to Malta’s population came from migration, particularly from irregular migrants who arrived in recent years and qualified for some kind of protection.

In 2012, a total of 3,100 new migrants were registered on the island boosting the total growth of the population to 3,800.

Compared to the rest of the EU, Malta registered the second highest population growth rate in the block, reaching a crude rate change of 9.1 per thousand. The crude rate is calculated as the ratio of the number of events to the average population in a given year.

Luxembourg was the only other EU member which registered a higher increase

With a crude rate of 23 per thousand, Luxembourg was the only other EU member state which registered a higher increase.

In general, the population of the EU28 at the end of last year was estimated at 505.7 million, an increase of 2.2 per thousand inhabitants.

Even in the EU, most of the increase, 1.7 per cent ~per thousand, is attributed to migration, while the natural increase was only 0.4 per thousand.

Apart from Luxembourg and Malta – ironically the smallest member states – the population increased most in Sweden, the UK, Belgium and Austria.

Greece and Portugal registered the highest decreases.

With a population of 80.5 million, Germany has the largest population in the EU, followed by France at 65.6 million. Malta had the smallest population, followed by Luxembourg (537,000) and Cyprus (865,900).