Nearly 80% of foreign nationals with a criminal record were deported during the last year, figures released by the justice ministry on Thursday show.

In total 480 out of the 615 foreign convicts who were in the country in January had left by the end of May, the majority of them under escort.

The figures, which were requested by the AD, show the proportion of foreign criminals who are deported has risen steadily from 72% in 2011. In total 5,290 people have left the country after committing crimes ranging from drugs offences to sexual offences, and in one case murder.

The success rate reflects that fact that most foreign criminals have valid identity papers, often because they are involved in crimes such as drug trafficking and people smuggling that require them to cross borders.

The most frequent countries of origin for foreign criminals were Albania and Surinam, with 60 each, followed by Algeria and Morocco, both on 50.