More people of Maltese descent are becoming interested in becoming citizens of Malta, according to statistics published by Eurostat. The number of descendents acquiring Maltese citizenship in 2008 reached 644, up from 474 in 2006.

EU sources said it was evident the bulk of new Maltese citizens came from countries with high emigration connections with the island and who had been given the right, some years ago, to acquire dual citizenship.

Since EU membership in 2004, Maltese citizens are entitled to a series of benefits, including free movement across the Union.

According to the EU statistical arm, almost 65 per cent of all those given Maltese citizenship in 2008 originated from countries strongly connected to Maltese emigration routes. The highest number of new citizens originated from Australia (35 per cent), followed by the UK (17 per cent), the US (6.8 per cent) and Canada (5.3 per cent).

In the peak of Malta's emigration period, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s, Australia, Canada and the US were the favourite destinations among Maltese who wanted to start a new life abroad. At the same time, the UK was also a natural port of call for Maltese would-be emigrants.

According to Eurostat, the average age of the new Maltese citizens stood at 31.5 years. A total of 696,000 persons acquired citizenship of one of the EU member states in 2008, down from 707,000 a year earlier. The new citizens came mainly from Africa (29 per cent of the total number of citizenships acquired), non-EU Europe (22 per cent), Asia (19 per cent) and North and South America (17 per cent).

In 2008, the largest groups that acquired citizenship of an EU member state were citizens of Morocco (64,000 persons), Turkey (50,000), Ecuador (27,000), Algeria (23,000) and Iraq (20,000).

France granted 45 per cent of all the citizenships acquired in the EU by Moroccans, Germany 49 per cent of those acquired by Turks, Spain 93 per cent of those acquired by Ecuadorians, France 88 per cent of those acquired by Algerians and the UK 44 per cent of those acquired by Iraqis.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.