Prague - In 2006, about three million of foreign immigrants settled in the European Union countries, while the largest "nomads" of today were citizens of Poland, according to Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
Around 290,000 Poles left Poland to settle in another EU country. The second and third largest immigrant groups that year were Romanians and Moroccans, with 230,000 and 140,000 leaving their homelands respectively, Eurostat reports.
Spain was the most frequent destination for foreign immigrants with 803,000 persons settling in, meanwhile Germany and the United Kingdom had almost half a million foreign persons two years ago.
Czechs and foreigners
The Czech Republic was surprisingly among the countries welcoming a sizeable number of foreigners too. Around 66,000 of them settled in the country, which is much higher a figure than in Denmark or Portugal.
| Immigration in EU in 2006 | |||
| Foreign immigrants in total | Non-EU citizens | ||
| Czech Rep. | 66,100 | 83% | |
| Slovakia | 11,300 | 46% | |
| Denmark | 34,300 | 51% | |
| Poland | 1,800 | 78% | |
| France | 182,400 | data missing | |
| United Kingdom | 451,700 | 69% | |
| Spain | 803,000 | 62% | |
| Germany | 558,500 | 43% | |
| In total in EU27 | 3 000 000 | 60% | |
| Source: Eurostat | |||
About 60 percent of foreign immigrants in EU member states were non-EU citizens. The highest share of immigrants from non-EU countries were recorded in Slovenia (90 percent), Romania (86 percent) and the Czech Republic (83 percent). Out of this number 46 percent were Ukrainians. In other words, every second foreign immigrant in the Czech Republic is Ukrainian.
By immigrant Eurostat means a person who established his or her usual residence in the territory of a country for a period of at least twelve months.
