Valletta inhabitants least satisfied with cultural facilities across EU

Malta was the only country in EU-wide survey where fewer than half of the respondents declared that they were satisfied with the cultural facilities of their country’s capital city. The results emerge as the island prepares to host the European Capital of Culture in 2018.

Data from the latest Eurobarometre survey on the "Perception of Quality of Life in European Cities", carried out in 2015, asked the inhabitants of the capital cities across the European Union about their satisfaction regarding cultural facilities.

The results show significant disparities between capital cities in the European Union, with levels of satisfaction ranging from 34% to 97%, with Valletta being on the lowest end of the scale.

Following Valletta, the lowest share of the resident population satisfied with cultural facilities was observed in Nicosia, which marked 58%, Lisbon with 59%, Athens with 62%, Madrid with 64% and Rome, with 65%.

One of the criteria for these figures was green areas within the city. According to the report, Valletta was the third city where less than half the respondents were satisfied with the amount of green areas, preceded by Greater Athina and Irakleio in Greece and succeeded by Palermo and Naples in Italy.

Levels of satisfaction in relation to public transport services and air quality are in the same waters with Valletta registering less than 40% of respondents, along with Palermo, Rome and Naples.

In an effort to encourage commuters to use public transport services, Valletta was among a few cities which experimented with the introduction of congestion charges and/or restrictions on polluting vehicles, designed to discourage the use of roads at peak periods. Other cities included Milan, Stockholm and central London.

Despite this, Valletta accounted for a high share of the national total for nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, with just under 50%. In fact, Valletta saw the second highest tourism pressure among all capital cities in the EU, the first being Paris.

Valletta inhabitants listed noise as the most important issue, garnering 28% of the votes from respondents. In this regard, Valletta came second to Prague, which registered 35% of respondents.

Nevertheless, according to the Eurostat office, inhabitants are generally satisfied with cultural facilities in most capitals. 97% of inhabitants in Vienna said they were very or rather satisfied, followed by Helsinki, 94%, and Prague and Stockholm with 90% each. were the EU capital cities with the highest proportions of their inhabitants with the cultural facilities in their city, in contrast notably to inhabitants of Valletta, the only EU capital city where fewer than half of respondents declared that they were satisfied with their cultural facilities.

Overall, a majority of inhabitants were satisfied with the cultural facilities in 27 of the 28 EU capital cities.