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11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MAY 2021 NEWS Signing of Grant Agreement with Allied Rainbow Communities for EuroPride Valletta 2023 Investment of €300,000 It will attract a large number of foreign participants, which augurs well for our economy, especially tourism Through education, we shall continue to build on the strong legal framework achieved, to overcome the prejudice and discrimination that some members of the LGBTIQ community in Europe still face. An opportunity for the sharing of best practices with our European counterparts, in the light that Malta maintained the 1st place on the ILGA Europe Rainbow Map index. An important milestone for our country KURT SANSONE MSIDA and St Paul's Bay of- ficially had more foreign resi- dents than Maltese by the end of 2019, figures obtained from the National Statistics Office show. The latest available statistics reveal how 54.1% of people liv- ing in Msida by December 2019 were foreigners, up by almost six points over the previous year. In St Paul's Bay, 53.1% of res- idents were foreigners, up by almost five points on 2018. This is the first time that for- eign residents surpassed Mal- tese nationals in any locality, an indication of the shifting de- mography of the past few years. By the end of 2019, there were just over 100,000 foreigners re- siding in Malta, making up 20% of the population, an increase of three points on the previ- ous year. The figures pre-date the COVID-19 pandemic that prompted some foreigners to go back to their country. A breakdown of statistics by locality shows that the bulk of foreigners lived in the localities bordering Marsamxett Har- bour and towns in the north of Malta. Gżira had the third highest ratio of foreign residents with the population split right down the middle between Maltese and foreigners. Gżira's foreign population ratio increased by almost five points between 2018 and 2019. Sliema and St Julian's came in fourth and fifth respective- ly. Foreigners made up 43.3% of Sliema's population, while the ratio for St Julian's stood at 42.2%. These localities in the north- ern regions retained the same top five spots they occupied in 2018 in terms of the foreign population ratio. Birżebbuġa, where foreign residents made up 38% of the locality's population, was the only locality from the south- ern regions to make the top 10 rankings. The town includes a large migrant open centre on its outskirts in Ħal Far, which contributes to the foreign pop- ulation. Ta' Xbiex, Swieqi, Pieta and Mellieħa completed the top 10 list. The ratio of foreign res- idents ranged from 29.7% in Mellieħa to 33.3% in Ta' Xbiex. The top 10 localities account- ed for 63% of all foreigners liv- ing in Malta by the end of 2019. Highest year-on-year increase Żebbuġ, Munxar and San Lawrenz were the Gozitan lo- calities with the highest ratios of foreign residents with 28.3%, 22.7% and 20.1% respectively. Żebbuġ was also the locality across both islands that experi- enced the highest year-on-year increase in foreign residents as a ratio of the population with an eight-point hike. On the flip side, Dingli, Mtar- fa, Santa Luċija and Mqabba, occupied the bottom of the list with foreign residents in each of these localities making up less than three per cent of their respective populations. The 10 localities with the smallest ratios of foreign resi- dents were in the southern and western regions. According to information ta- bled in parliament last Febru- ary by Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, the majority of EU and EEA nationals residing in Malta are employed as clerks and support workers, while a large number of third country nationals work in elementary occupations. ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Msida, St Paul's Bay with more foreign residents than Maltese The latest available statistics reveal how 54.1% of people living in Msida by December 2019 were foreigners, up by almost six points over the previous year By the end of 2019, there were just over 100,000 foreigners residing in Malta, making up 20% of the population, an increase of three points on the previous year