Average basic annual salary for 2022 was EUR 20,869 per annum

The average annual basic salary for employees in 2022 was €20,989, the National Statistics Office (NSO) detailed in its 2024 Regional Statistics report on Tuesday.

The average income for male employees was €22,096, whilst the average income for female employees was €19,605. The information showed that the average annual basic salary had increased from 2021, where it was €19,823.

The NSO said that 85,797 individuals residing in private households in the country were identified as being at risk of poverty in 2022. The poverty risk rate for Malta was 16.8% whilst for Gozo and Comino, it was 15.1%.

As for Malta's population, it was 542,051 in 2022, with 501,860 and 40,191 residing in the Malta, and Gozo and Comino regions respectively. "Persons between 30 and 39 years of age accounted for the highest share, 18.9%, of the population of the Malta region, with 35,553 and 20,055 persons living in the Northern Harbour and Northern districts respectively. Additionally, in the Gozo and Comino region, persons having the age of between 30 and 39 years also accounted for the highest share, that of 15.1% of the population of the Gozo and Comino region."

Between 2017 and 2022, the population of the Malta region experienced consistent annual growth, culminating in an overall increase of 61,596 inhabitants, the information shows. Additionally, the Gozo and Comino region experienced a population uptick, with 5,618 more inhabitants or a growth rate of 16.2% when compared to 2017.

During 2022, the total foreign population in the country reached 137,376, with the majority aged between 30 to 39 years (32.9%), the information shows.

Malta also had a positive natural population change for 2021 and 2022, whilst Gozo and Comino had a negative natural population change. Based on 2022 statistics, there are approximately four working-age adults for every individual aged 65 or more.

2,546 marriages were registered in 2022, an increase of 270 from 2021. Two-person households were the most common household size in the Malta region, whilst in Gozo and Comino, one-person households were the most common.

Average household disposable income was the highest in the South Eastern district at €42,855. It was the lowest in the Northern Harbour district, at €29,852.

245,059 of Malta residents in 2022 were working full-time, an increase of 8.6% compared to 2021. By comparison, 17,702 of Gozo and Comino residents worked full-time, an increase of 5.7% from 2021.

The NSO said that 81.6% of Malta residents worked in the private sector, with 66% of Gozo and Comino residents doing the same.

1,695 building permits were issued in 2022

1,695 building permits were issued in 2022 for a total of 8,112 new dwellings being approved, the NSO said. The majority of newly approved dwellings across the country consisted of apartments, at 70.9% (5,755 units). This was followed by penthouse units, with 1,271 being approved. Maisonettes was the third highest with 712 units.

Students enrolled in education

27,039 primary students were enrolled for the 2021/2022 scholastic year, with 21,994 secondary students.

4,494 adolescents were enrolled in post-secondary general education, with 24,151 students attending full-time or part-time courses in other post-secondary or tertiary educational institutions. 55.7% of these students were female, the NSO said.

It added that 44.9% of students attending post-secondary or tertiary education were enrolled at the University of Malta, a drop of 5.5 percentage points compared to the prior school year.

Business, administration, and law were the most popular fields of study in the country at the post-secondary and tertiary level, followed by Health and Welfare.

Traffic accidents and transport

There were 438,567 licensed vehicles in Malta in 2023, with a total of 277,837 driving licence holders, which was an increase of 0.4% from 2022.

Gozo and Comino accounted for 9.6% of the total driving licences.

At the end of 2022, there were 1,529 vehicles for every 1,000 driving licence holders.

The number of reported traffic accidents increased by 4.5% since 2022, with 35.8% of total accidents occurring in the Northern Harbour district, which also registered the highest ratio of vehicles per resident. Birkirkara was the locality with the highest rate of traffic accidents, with 1,084 cases, the NSO said.

The number of public transport commuters in 2023 totalled over 67 million, with Gozo and Comino only accounting for 4.3% of commuters.

Passengers and vehicles travelling between Malta and Gozo for 2023 increased by 15.5% and 4.1% compared to 2022. Passengers making use of the fast ferry service amounted to 693,361 from a total amount of 7,417 trips.

Tourism

Region guests in Malta for the year 2023 surpassed 2 million, increasing by 24.4% from 2022. For Gozo and Comino, region guests increased by 21.4% to 108,088.

Inbound tourism to Malta increased from 2,286,597 in 2022 to 2,975,670 in 2023, with the majority of these tourists, at 61.3%, coming to Malta using low-cost airlines.

In terms of waste collection, 94.8% of all waste collected from civic amenity sites was classified as non-hazardous. Municipal waste generation amounted to over 328,000 tonnes, which was an increase of 0.5% for Malta and an increase of 6.5% for Gozo and Comino in 2022 over 2018.