40% of low-income parents not married

Four out of 10 parents in families earning less than €24,000 are single or separated. But in Gozo only two in 10 parents in the same income bracket are in the same situation.

This emerges from a MaltaToday analysis of children allowance statistics presented in parliament last week.

Official statistics also show that nearly half of Maltese families earn less than €24,000 a year.

In fact while 21,907 families receive the means-tested rate of children allowance, 18,943 are receiving a flat rate of 350 a year given to all families earning more than €24,000.

This means that 54% of parents with children less than 16 years earn less than €24,000 a year while 46% earn more than this amount.

Statistics presented in parliament also show that 40% of parents earning less than €24,000 are either single, widowed, divorced or separated.

The statistics expose a sharp divide in family patterns between low income earners in Malta and Gozo.

While in Gozo only 22% of parents earning more than €24,0000 a year are unmarried, in Malta the figure rises to 41%.

In Valletta, Bormla and Senglea nearly two-thirds of low-income parents are unmarried. In Valletta, 281 out of 404 low income parents are unmarried while in Bormla 316 of 481 parents in the same income bracket are unmarried.

Even in Gozo one can find a difference between the relatively more urbanised Victoria were 35% of low income parents are unmarried and Xewkija, Sannat and Munxar were less than 20% of low income parents are unmarried.

No statistics have been presented yet on the marital status of those earning more than €24,000 a year.