Malta's population rose to 460,297 in 2016, according to the latest data issued by the National Statistics Office. Back in 2006, the total population stood at 405,616.

While the aforementioned numbers takes into account foreign nationals, the total number of Maltese people living on the islands in 2016 stood at 405,976.

"In 2017, benchmark revisions were undertaken for the estimation of migration fl ows. National methodologies and data sources were reviewed and updated leading to a revision of the time-series data on population counts from 2012 - 2016."

The release said that there were methodological improvements which led to the revision of migration flow data for European Union (EU) and regular Third Country Nationals (TCN).

"The share of the total population that is foreign is 11.8%."

Persons under 18 made up 17% of the total population, while a further 18.8% were aged 65 and over.

Life expectancy at birth for 2016 stood at 80.6 years for males and 84.4 years for females, while life expectancy at age 65 stood at 19.7 years for males and 22.1 years for females, the NSO said.

The figures show that the total population on the islands in 2015 stood at 451,569. The main reason for the rise is immigration of EU nationals, and of third country nationals.