Gozo with highest share of elderly population, regional stats show

Gozo was home to 34,430 people in 2019 and accounted for more elderly residents than Malta in all ages above 52, regional statistics show.

Gozo’s population accounted for 6.7% of the total Maltese population, according to the figures released by the National Statistics Office today.

Malta’s overall population surpassed the half-million mark with 480,134 living in the Malta region.

People aged between 30 and 39 accounted for the highest share of the overall population. The natural population change was uninterruptedly positive year-on-year for the Malta region while that for Gozo was positive for all years except 2013 and 2015.

The breakdown by individual age groups shows that Gozo had a higher share of elderly residents than Malta for all ages above 52.

Two-person households were the most common household size in the Malta region, while the one-person dwelling was the most common in Gozo.

Prosperity highest in Western district

Average household disposable income was the highest in Western district of Malta at €34,399 and the lowest in Gozo at €26,034.

The persons at-risk-of-poverty rate in the Malta region stood at 17.3% in 2019, while in Gozo this stood at 13.9%.

Increase in full-time jobs

The regional stats show that 210,510 residents in the Malta region worked on a full-time basis in 2019, an increase of 6.3% when compared to 2018. Almost 80% of these worked in the private sector.

There were 15,193 Gozo residents who had a full-time job, an increase of 6.2%. Of these, 62.2% worked in the private sector. Gozo residents employed on a full-time basis in the Malta region totalled 3,578, of which 51% worked in the public sector.

Fewer marriages

The figures show that in 2019, 2,674 couples tied the knot, a decline of 157 when compared to marriages contracted in the previous year.

Marriages peaked in 2016 when they surpassed the 3,000 mark but have experienced a constant decline since then. From 2017 onwards, marriages also include same-sex couples.