This section provides salient statistics on the regional demographic structure of MALTA. The first sub-section comprises demographic aspects related to population size and structure, births, deaths and marriages while the second sub-section considers the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of households. The final section provides a regional analysis of social protection beneficiaries for a selection of benefits.
Salient Points
DEMOGRAPHY
… 532,997 and 41,253 persons resided in the Malta and Gozo and Comino regions respectively.
… persons aged between 30 and 39 years accounted for the highest share of the population of both regions.
Change in population: 2019/2024
… the highest percentage increases were observed in the age cohorts of 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 years in both Malta region and Gozo and Comino region.
… the highest increases in the foreign population occurred within the population of 30-39 years of age in both regions.
… natural population change was uninterruptedly positive year-on-year for the Malta region except for the Southern Harbour district while Gozo and Comino region had a negative natural population growth rate for 2021, 2022 and 2024.
… in 2024, old age-dependency ratio in MALTA stood at 26.6 per cent, thus there is approximately four working-age adults for every person aged 65 years or more.
Marriages: 2024
… 2,334 marriages were registered in MALTA. This reflects a decrease of 13 marriages when compared to 2023, with an increase of 18 marriages registered in Malta region. There was a decrease of 31 marriages registered in the region of Gozo and Comino compared to the previous year.
Households: 2024
… the most common household size for people living in both Malta and Gozo and Comino regions were the one-person.
… average household disposable income was highest in the Western district at €44,741 and lowest in the Northern district, €34,335..
… persons at-risk-poverty rates for the regions of Malta and Gozo and Comino were 16.6 and 20.4 per cent respectively.
Selected Social benefits: 2024
… two-thirds pension had the highest number of beneficiaries from the selection of social benefits in both regions during the years under consideration.
… in the Malta region, the expenditure per capita on the selected benefits was highest in the localities of Santa Luċija, Il-Birgu, L-Isla, Valletta and Floriana where the expenditure per capita was greater than €2,000 in each of the localities. In contrast, the expenditure per capita was less than €1,000 in the localities of San Pawl Il-Baħar, L-Imsida, Is-Swieqi, San Ġiljan, and Il-Gżira.
… in the region of Gozo and Comino, the expenditure per capita on the selected benefits was highest in San Lawrenz, Ir-Rabat, Il-Fontana, Kercem, In-Nadur and Ix-Xewkija, with expenditure per capita exceeding €1,500. On the other hand, Iż-Żebbug and Il-Munxar registered the least expenditure per capita of less than €1,000.
