The majority of immigrants registered in Malta in 2006 were actually Maltese returning home, according to Eurostat figures.

The most recent statistics on immigration in the EU, published yesterday in Brussels, show that the "home sweet home" trend in Malta was quite significant.

Of the 1,829 immigrants registered by Maltese authorities in 2006, the latest year for which data is available, 64 per cent (1,171) were returning nationals. The rest, 36 per cent (658) were foreign nationals, including citizens from other member states.

The statistics do not include illegal immigrants or refugees, who are not considered as immigrants. The Eurostat data defines immigrants as "persons establishing their residence in the territory of a country for a period of at least 12 months and who had previously been resident in another country".

Eurostat said that in 2006 the number of non-Maltese migrants coming to the island amounted to 1.6 persons per 1,000 inhabitants. This was much lower than the EU average, which amounted to 6.2 immigrants per 1,000 inhabitants in that same year.

Figures show that during 2006 about three million foreign immigrants settled in the EU 27, including citizens of member states. EU citizens amounted to 1.2 million persons, or 40 per cent, of all foreign immigrants.

With regard to non-EU citizens, a total of 1.8 million settled in member states with the biggest share originating from Morocco (140,000), Ukraine and China (100,000 each). The largest number of foreign immigrants was recorded in Spain (803,000), Germany (558,500), and the UK (451,700).

Small countries also registered a substantial intake of migrants. Cyprus registered 14,500 foreign migrants in 2006 while Luxembourg added 13,700 to its largely migrant population.