VALLETTA, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Malta issued the highest rate of residence permits to non-European Union (EU) nationals last year, according to official figures published on Thursday.

According to EU statistics agency Eurostat, Malta issued 10,974 first-time residence permits last year, over half of which went to people intending to work in the country.

Malta issued 23.4 permits for every 1,000 inhabitants, more than any other EU member state. Sweden and Cyprus issued 22.1 permits, with Poland at 18 permits per 1,000 inhabitants.

The figures show that 54.6 percent (5,997) of first-time residence permits issued in 2017 by Malta were for employment purposes. Family reasons accounted for 14.4 percent of permits while 13.9 percent were for educational purposes.

The majority of permits issued in 2017 went to Serbians, Filipinos and Indians.

There were 2,033 first-time residence permits issued to Serbians in 2017, according to the data, making up 18.5 percent of all permits issued.