A total of 1,532 main applicants have had their citizenship naturalised under the Individual investor programme scheme (IIP scheme) since the regulations came into force in 2014, Minister for national security Byron Camilleri said on Wednesday in Parliament.

Applicants came from Asia, Europe, North and South America, the Middle East, the Gulf, Africa, the Oceana and the Caribbean.

In answering a question by PN MP Ivan Bartolo, Camilleri said that "these applications brought funds that were invested for various purposes including both medical and social".