Russian women in Malta heavily outnumber their male counterparts, a situation that is reversed in the Somali and Italian communities.

Three out of every four Russian residents are women, mostly aged between 20 and 39, according to the census.

The nationwide exercise conducted in 2011 found that there were 603 Russian citizens living in Malta, making them the sixth largest foreign community.

But the gender balance is reversed in the Somali and Italian communities with three quarters of residents being men.

The Somali community, numbering just over 1,000, was the second largest group of foreigners after the British.

Made up mostly of men between the ages of 20 and 29, the Somalis represent the youngest foreign community.

Although the final report of the census published earlier this week by the National Statistics Office did not analyse the social status of the foreign communities, it was evident from the place of residence that the Somalis were irregular migrants.

Most of them live in the south east region that encompasses the large open centres in Ħal Far. The NSO pointed out that the male predominance in the Somali community meant that the south east district was the only one across Malta and Gozo with an overall male population larger than women. Italian men aged between 30 and 49 dominated their community of 947 residents. Italians formed the third largest grouping of foreign nationals.

The census showed there were more than 20,000 foreign citizens resident in Malta with the British community, as expected, being the largest with some 6,600 living here.

However, the British on average were also the eldest community with the largest age group falling between 50 and 69.

Foreigners in Malta

British: 6,652
Somali: 1,041
Italian: 947
Bulgarian: 850
German: 736
Russian: 603
Eritrean: 548
Serbian: 541
Swedish: 447

ksansone@timesofmalta.com