Foreign population highest in St Paul’s Bay at 18%

Nearly one in every 20 residents in the seaside localities of St Paul's Bay and Birzebbugia are non-Maltese nationals, according to the latest National Statistics Office census.

But while the majority of Birzebbugia residents are asylum seekers residing in closed or open centres, towns like St Paul's Bay, Sliema and St Julian's have become cosmopolitan melting pots, where more than 14% of the population hails from other countries.

Over the past seven years, the number of foreign residents in St Paul's Bay has increased from 1,846 to 2,952, comprising 17.9% of the total resident population.

Birzebbugia, which hosts the detention centre in Hal-Far, records the highest percentage of non-Maltese residents - 2,066 - who account to 20% of its population.  However, most of these persons live in isolation and do not mix with the population.  In fact 16% of Birzebbugia's population is listed as living in an 'institution' - the highest in Malta.

Conversely, while Birzebbugia has the highest number of non-Maltese residents, neighbouring south-eastern localities tend to have the lowest number of foreign nationals - 0.8% of Gudja's and Mqabba's population. Birzebbugia alone accounts for 64% of all non-Maltese residents in the south-eastern region, meaning the concentration of migrants in Hal-Far is located in the region which is least used to the presence of foreign nationals.

Marsaskala is the only south-eastern locality where the percentage of foreigners surpasses the 3% mark.

Working-class Santa Lucija emerges as the locality with the least percentage of foreign nationals in its population (0.6%), followed by Zabbar, where foreigners account for just 0.7% of the population.

On the other hand, St Julian's, Gzira, and Sliema have seen the foreign component of their population increase by more than 4% since 2005. Sliema today boasts 1,950 non-Maltese nationals up from 1,338 in 2005; while St Julian's has seen its non-Maltese population increase from 735 to 1,126. Gzira has seen the most rapid increase in its non-Maltese population, which has increased from 404 (5.7%) to 739 (10.5%).

The census shows that 23% of all non-Maltese residents live in Sliema, St Julians, Msida and Gzira.

A high percentage of foreign residents in also found in small Gozitan villages like Gharb, Ghasri and Munxar, where foreigners account for more than 8% of the population.

Up to 4.8% of the total Maltese population is composed of non-Maltese nationals (i.e., citizens of other countries).

The preliminary census report issued by the National Office of Statistics reveals that foreign nationals in Malta increased from 12,112 in 2005, a year after Malta joined the European Union, to 20,086 in 2011 - an increase of 66%.

53% of non-Maltese residents are men aged on average 39, another 25% are aged 25-34. The majority (37.6%) reside in the most populous region, the Northern Harbour district where foreigners account for 6.3% of the total population residing in Malta. These are concentrated in Msida, Gzira, St Julian's and Sliema.

But foreigners only account for 0.9% of Qormi's population, and 2.1% of the population of Malta's most populous urban centre Birkirkara.

The highest proportion of non-Maltese residents is found in the northern district which includes Mosta, St Paul's Bay and Mellieha. In this region, non-Maltese residents constitute 8% of the population. But while foreigners account for 18% of St Paul's Bay's population, they only account for 2.6% of Mosta's population. In Naxxar, foreign nationals account for 4.4% of the population.

Non-Maltese nationals constitute 4% of the Gozitan population but surpasses the 8% mark in a number of picturesque and small villages.

The lowest proportion of non-Maltese nationals (3.9%) is found in the South Harbour districts, which includes Valletta and Cottonera. Only 3% of Valletta's population is foreign.

Foreigners account for 5% of the Western region's population. But the percentage of non-Maltese nationals varies from just 1.4% in Zebbug and 2.2% in Rabat to 7% in Balzan.