VALLETTA, Nov.16 (Xinhua) -- Malta issued the largest number of residence permits per thousand citizens in 2016, a rate more than three times of the European average, according to Eurostat figures published on Thursday.
According to the data, 20.6 permits were issued per thousand inhabitants in Malta, compared to the EU average of 6.5 permits.
Cyprus was the country with the second highest number with the ratio of 19.9 in 2016, followed by Poland 15.4, Sweden 14.8 and Britain 13.2.
Roughly 3.4 million residence permits were issued in the whole of the EU last year. Employment accounted for 25.4 percent of EU-wide residence permits, with family and education accounting for 23.2 percent and 20.7 percent respectively of the total.
Ukrainian citizens were the highest beneficiaries of European residence permits in 2016, followed by Syrians, citizens of the United States and India.
