In 2012, Malta registered a 9.1 per cent increase in its population, which on 1 January 2013 amounted to 421,400, the second highest population increase among EU member states of which, no less than 7.4 per cent increase was due to migration.
This was revealed in a Eurostat special release on European demography, published on Monday.
On 1 January 2013, the population of the EU28 was estimated at 505.7 million, compared with 504.6 million on 1 January 2012, Eurostat said.
This means that the population of the EU28 grew by 1.1 million in 2012, an annual rate of +2.2 per 1,000 inhabitants, due to a natural increase of 0.2 million (+0.4‰) and net migration of 0.9 million (+1.7‰).
In 2012, 5.2 million babies were born in the EU28. The crude birth rate was 10.4 per 1000 inhabitants, stable compared with 2011.
The highest birth rates were recorded in Ireland (15.7‰), the United Kingdom (12.8‰), France (12.6‰), Sweden (11.9‰) and Cyprus (11.8 per cent), and the lowest in Germany (8.4‰), Portugal (8.5‰), Greece and Italy (both 9.0‰) and Hungary (9.1‰).
There were five million deaths registered in the EU28 in 2012. The crude death rate was 9.9 per 1,000 inhabitants, compared with 9.6‰ in 2011.
The highest death rates were observed in Bulgaria (15.0‰), Latvia (14.3‰), Lithuania (13.7‰), Hungary (13.0‰), Romania (12.7‰) and Croatia (12.1‰), and the lowest in Ireland (6.3‰), Cyprus (6.6‰), Luxembourg (7.3‰), Malta (8.1‰) and The Netherlands (8.4‰).
Consequently, the highest natural growth of the population (the difference between live births and deaths per 1,000 inhabitants) was registered in Ireland (+9.5‰), well ahead of Cyprus (+5.2‰), Luxembourg (+4.0‰), France and the United Kingdom (both +3.8‰).
Twelve member states had negative natural growth, with the largest falls in Bulgaria (-5.5‰), Latvia (-4.5‰), Hungary (-3.9‰), Lithuania (-3.5‰), Romania (-2.7‰) and Germany (-2.4‰).
The figures for Malta say that the Maltese population amounted to 417,500 on 1 January 2012. Live births were 4,100, and deaths 3,400, thus the natural change was 700. To that, one must add 3,100 net inflows from migration, bringing the total Maltese population on 1 January 2013 to 421,400.
Net migration does not mean only people coming in on boats but also people arriving here with a valid visa, returning migrants and the like.
Eurostat added that in 2012, around 80 per cent of the increase in the EU28 population came from migration. In relative terms, Luxembourg (+18.9‰), Malta (+7.4‰), Italy (+6.2‰), Sweden (+5.4‰) and Austria (+5.2‰) had the largest net inflows, while Ireland (-7.6‰), Lithuania (-7.1‰), Latvia (-5.8‰), Estonia (-5.7‰), Greece (-4.0‰), Portugal (-3.6‰) and Spain (-3.5‰) recorded the highest net outflows.
In conclusion, the population increased in 17 member states and decreased in 11. The largest relative increases were observed in Luxembourg (+23.0‰), Malta (+9.1‰), Sweden (+7.7‰), the United Kingdom (+6.2‰), Belgium (+6.0‰) and Austria (+5.2‰), and the largest decreases in Lithuania (-10.6‰), Latvia (-10.3‰), Estonia (-6.8‰), Bulgaria (-5.8‰), Greece (-5.5‰) and Portugal (-5.2‰).