A total 81,911 foreign students attended English language courses at local specialised schools last year, 18.2 per cent more than in 2011.

The National Statistics Office said that almost two-thirds of students came from Italy (19.2 per cent), Germany (14.1), Russia (13.9), France (10.4) or Spain (7.3).

The largest proportion of language students - 21,791, fell within the 16-17 age groups. Students aged 50 and over were in a minority and counted 3,879.

Female students outnumbered males and accounted for 57.5 per cent of the entire student population.

July was the busiest month for English schools and December the least busy.

English students amounted to 5.7 per cent of total foreign nationals visiting Malta last year.

The average length of stay of students for 2012 was estimated at 2.8 weeks.

With an average of 7.9 weeks, students from South Korea had the highest average duration. These were followed by Turkish and Libyan students with averages of 5.6 and 5.3 weeks, respectively.

The total number of weeks spent by foreign students in Malta amounted to 226,360, up from 182,347 in 2011.