Half of all new Scots have a degree, according to figures underlining the economic value of immigration.

Census numbers newly crunched by the Scottish Government, show 49 per cent of residents born overseas have a higher education qualification, compared with just 26 per cent of the total population.

Statisticians, moreover, uncovered recent arrivals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) - the European Union plus Switzerland, Iceland and Norway - were even better educated.

Some 60 per cent of non-EEA migrants between 2001 and 2011 were educated to degree level of equivalent.

However, many of these people are understood to be students or to have first come to Scotland to study.

Very few of people in the recent wave of migration - between 2001 and 2010 - have no skills, just 10 per cent of the total. That compares very favourably with the overall population figure of 27 per cent.

Christina Boswell, professor of politics and international relations at Edinburgh University, welcomed the new numbers.

An expert in migration, she stressed the importance that the Scottish Government had produced such data.

She said: "In the current political climate very few politicians are feeling brave enough to make a positive case for the economic benefits of immigration.

"So in that respect the Scottish Government analysis comes as a breath of fresh air. It is confirming what we have known for a long time about newly arrived immigrants that they tend to have above average skills and qualifications and they bring much needed talent to the UK economy.

"The main political parties at a UK level are all far too worried about Ukip anti-immigrant rhetoric and this making them reluctant to launch a frank discussion on immigration."

The findings come after a BBC opinion poll found Scots were just as worried about migration as people from the rest of the UK, despite a different flavour to politics north of the border.

Some two-thirds said immigration should be reduced or stopped altogether, about the same as in England and Wales, the survey revealed.

The new Scottish Government census figures, however, reveal that migrants - anyone born abroad, regardless of their ethnicity - tend to integrate.

A quarter of 'established' migrants - people who came to live in the UK from overseas in 2001 or longer ago reported their national identity as 'Scottish only'. Another 16 per cent of established migrants from the EEA saw themselves as British only, while that figure rose to 31 per cent of those from outside the EU, a figure likely to include the children of expats returning from former UK colonies.

The figures also showed that the fast majority of migrants - 89 per cent - could speak, read and write English, compared with 94 per cent of the general population. Forty-two per cent of migrants speak no other languages than English at home. Only one in 50 migrants have "no English skills", according to the figures.

The high skills and education levels of migrants is reflected in the work they do. Rather than competing for entry-level jobs, figures show they compete for skilled and managerial posts.

Only 18 per cent of migrants are in elementary occupations, compared with 22 per cent in professions.