Malta issued significantly more new residence permits last year per capita than any other country in the EU, an analysis of European data shows.
Last year, Malta approved almost 42,000 first residence permits, according to Eurostat figures released this week.
While some countries granted many more – Germany for example, issued more than 586,000 residence permits – Malta stands out for how many it issued when compared to the size of its population.
A Times of Malta analysis comparing the total number of new residence permits issued by each country to their population shows that per 100,000 people, Malta issued far more permits than anywhere else in the EU
Malta issued more than 7,400 permits per 100,000 people, the analysis shows.
This was double the number granted by Cyprus (just over 3,700) – the second-highest country – and more than 11 times more than the 660 permits per 100,000 issued by Malta’s closest European neighbour Italy.
Eurostat data shows employment was the main driver of new residence permits, accounting for two-thirds (almost 28,000) of first permits issued in Malta – a trend mirrored across the continent.
“Employment remained the main reason for issuing residence permits in 2023, accounting for 33.8% (1.3 million) of all first residence permits issued,” Eurostat said.
Meanwhile, education accounted for almost 7,300 permits issued in Malta while family reasons accounted for almost 3,200.
In its recent release, the bloc’s statistics arm said more than 3.7 million first residence permits were issued in the EU to non-EU citizens last year, a 4.6% increase over the year before and the highest number to date.
The figures come at a time of continued debate about the country’s reliance on foreign workers and its burgeoning population which last year reached over 563,000 people, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO).
In June, Prime Minister Robert Abela acknowledged that Malta’s “unprecedented” economic growth had introduced new challenges, putting pressure on Malta’s infrastructure and demographics.
However, he hit back at claims the economy relied on constant population growth, calling the assertion “mistaken”.
“In reality, it’s the economy that has brought people over, not the other way around,” Abela said, while stressing the need to “analyse how these workers are meeting our needs as a nation”.
The following month, scores of third-country nationals (TCNS) – workers from outside the EU – saw their permits refused as the Home Affairs Ministry cracked down on worker numbers in sectors seen as having “reached saturation”.
The link between Malta’s economic success and the number of foreign workers was highlighted last year by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, who warned the population would have to balloon to 800,000 by 2040 to sustain an average economic growth of 4.2%.
Figures on other ends of the political spectrum have also addressed population growth: last year, Opposition Leader Bernard Grech said, “we cannot continue to increase the number of foreign workers we have on our island”.
The data shows that some of Europe’s smallest countries – Malta, Cyprus and Liechtenstein – proportionally gave out the highest number of permits.
Meanwhile, some of the bloc’s largest economies, and largest countries, issued comparatively few permits compared to their population.
France, the largest country in the EU in terms of landmass, featured near the bottom of the list, issuing just over 335,000 first residence permits while having a population of 68 million, equal to less than 500 permits per 100,000 people.
And Spain, the second largest country and one with a population of more than 48 million issued over 1,100 permits per 100,000 people, the analysis shows.
Meanwhile, Romania – a country more than 750 times larger than Malta and with a population of over 19 million – gave out the lowest number of permits at just less than 300 per 100,000 people.
The analysis used figures provided exclusively by Eurostat, including population figures recorded at the start of this year and the number of first residence permits issued.