Malta's population shoots up to 542,000

Third-country nationals made up 83.1% of new residents in Malta in 2022, as the population grew by 21,798 last year, placing the Maltese population at 542,051.

According to a press release from the National Statistics Office, (NSO) third-country nationals made up the majority of 2022’s population increase, with 65% being men.

Meanwhile, the natural population increase, which refers to a higher number of births than deaths in 2022, saw record lows, as 4,309 residents were born in 2022, the lowest in the past 15 years. Resident deaths, on the other hand, were registered at 4,230.

At the end of 2022, over 53% of the entire resident population was male. Persons under the age of 18 made up 15.1% of the total population, while those aged 65 and up made up 18.6%. There were 3,395 people above the age of 90, including 2,415 females and 980 men.

The influx of third-country nationals to sustain Malta’s growth-based economic model has made headlines over the past few weeks, following finance minister Clyde Caruana’s statement that the population would increase to 800,000 in less than 20 years at the current rate. This rapid influx in the population has had various side effects, including sub-standard living conditions for the same workers.

To address this, Caruana, speaking in parliament, said Malta’s workforce should aim at reaching standards in the Netherlands, where working hours on average are just over 20 a week and at double the Maltese average salary.