Warsaw - According to an EU report released today, Poles make up the largest immigrant group in the European Union, being followed by Romanians and Moroccans.

Out of some 3 million immigrants that settled in the EU, some 290,000 were Poles, said the Eurostat statistics based on 2006.

Some 2 million Poles went to work in other EU countries - notably Britain and Ireland - since Poland joined the European Union in 2004.

Poles working abroad have contributed to the ex-communist nation's prosperity, sending home more than 8 billion dollars in 2007 while helping to cut the jobless rate.

About 40 per cent of all EU immigrants were EU citizens migrating to another member state. The remaining 60 per cent were from European non-member states, Asia, the United States and Africa, the report said.

Spain, followed by Germany and Britain, saw the largest number of immigrants in 2006.

Luxembourg had the highest rate of immigrants with 28.8 per 1,000 inhabitants.

Eurostat, the EU's statistics office, provides the EU statistics in fields like economy, population, industry and agriculture.