Census spotlight: Children in Gharghur, foreigners in Msida

Where the children live

Children under the age of 14 account for nearly one fifth of the population of Gharghur, a rural locality bordering on more densely populated urban centres like Swieqi, San Gwann and Naxxar.

Over the past decade, Gharghur has attracted an influx of more affluent middle-class families, reversing a decline in the village population.

Gharghur’s population, which declined from 2,321 in 1985 to 1,991 in 1995, has consistently increased in the following decades, reaching 3,741 in 2021. Of these 717 are aged under 14.  Children also account for 17% of the population of rural Mgarr and the southern seaside town of Xghajra, followed by south eastern towns like Qrendi, Ghaxaq and  Zurrieq.

With the exception of Gharghur, Mgarr, Siggiewi and Santa Venera, the top ten localities with the largest percentage of children are located in the southern regions. Children still account for over 15% of Marsaskala’s population but in an indication that the seaside town is getting older the percentage is down from 20% in the 2011 census. In fact, 34% of Marsaskala’s population is now aged between 25 and 44.  On the other end of the lowest percentage of children is found in Mdina, Gzira and Msida.

Gzira is an interesting case of a locality whose population has grown by more than 3,000 people in the past decade but which has grown exclusively thanks to an influx of foreign workers and not families raising children. Nearly half of Gzira’s population (47%) is aged between 25 and 44.

Where young people live

In most Maltese localities young people aged between 15 and 24 account for less than 10% of the total population.

It is only in Mtarfa, Birzebbuga and Pembroke that the percentage of young people surpasses the 14% mark.

Mtarfa, a suburb of Rabat, which developed around social housing accommodation is one of the few localities whose population has remained stable since 2005 when it was included for the first time in the census.

Since then, its population has only increased by 140.  This suggests that Mtarfa’s original population, is slowly ageing - nearly 35% of its population is now aged between 45 and 64.

The high rate of young people in Birzebbuga reflects the influx of new people to the seaside locality between 1995 and 2011, when the locality’s population grew by 3,105.

But unlike Mtarfa, Birzebbuga’s population is not static and has grown by a further 1,432 in the past decade.

Pembroke, which back in 2011 had the largest percentage of children under 14-year-olds (20%), now has the third largest percentage of youths (14%).  But the percentage of children under 14 in Pembroke has shrunk from 20% to 14%.

Where pensioners live

No two towns could be more different in their social make up then the aristocratic Mdina and the proletarian Santa Lucija but both share a similar fate; that of a shrinking and ageing population.

Mdina’s population has been in constant decline. From a population of 1,384 in 1948 to just 193 in 2011. Nearly 60% of Mdina’s population is now aged over 55.

Santa Lucija, a town which grew around a housing estate, has seen its population decline from 3,605 in 1995 to 2,617 in 2021. Only 31% of its population is under 34 years of age while 47% are aged over 55 years.

Birgu whose population is also in decline, is also getting older with less than 30% of its population aged under 34.

Over 65-year-olds also account for 27% of Valletta’s population, a city whose population has shrunk by a further 600 in the past decade which was also characterised by the transformation of the city into an entertainment hub replete with restaurants and boutique hotels.

The decrease in Valletta’s population suggests that more people are moving out then moving into the city despite its recognition as a European city of culture.

Where the foreigners live

Foreigners now constitute a majority in Msida, St Paul’s Bay and Gzira and nearly half the population of Sliema and St Julians.  But significantly the increase in foreign population in Msida, Gzira and Sliema corresponds to a decline in the Maltese who live in these localities.

This suggests that both localities are either becoming less attractive for Maltese residents due to over development or that property prices are driving them out. Gzira’s Maltese population has declined by 1,369 in the past decade while its foreign population has shot up by 4,174.

Msida’s Maltese population has also declined by 917 in a decade which has seen the locality’s foreign population increase by 6,756. Sliema has also experienced a loss of 1,476 in its Maltese population and an increase in 7,510 in foreigners.

Moreover, Gzira and Msida have among the lowest proportion of children amongst their inhabitant - 8.2% in Gzira and 8.5% in Msida.

In contrast, Gharghur which has the largest percentage of children (20%) has seen a more sustained increase in its foreign population which has grown from 121 in 2011 to 503 in 2021. One consequence of this demographic pattern is that foreigners who may have less sense of belonging due to the temporary nature of their stay in Malta are becoming a majority in a number of localities.

A substantial part of the foreign population does not hail from the European Union and is therefore not even entitled to vote in local council elections.

The census also shows a sharp divide between an increasingly multi-cultural north and a more ethnically homogenous south and west. In fact, less then 3% of the population in Mtarfa, Sant Lucija and Dingli is foreign.

Foreigners also account for less than 10% in most southern localities where asylum seekers may be more visible but whose share is far less than that of foreign workers who are concentrated in urban areas in the northern part of the country.

The presence of foreigners is more pronounced in Marsaskala and Marsa, where they make up 28% and 26% of the locality’s respective populations.