Figure 2.1 (above): Maltese and non-Maltese Young People between 10 and 29 years.
The census data 2021 articulates very clearly the changes in population, including migration patterns in Malta between 2011 and 2021. Main findings from this report indicate that there has been a 25% increase in population during this period, with the number of foreign nationals in Malta increasing by 10 times during the same period, making 22.2% of the population. This article focuses on the findings about young people in Malta emerging from this report.
27% of young people between 10 and 29 years residing in Malta are not Maltese. The proportion of non-Maltese among this age bracket is significantly higher than the average among the general population, which is 22.2%. An analysis of the numbers in Tables 2.1 and 2.3 below results in a confirmed trend of more males than females across the Maltese and non-Maltese young people. The gap between males and females is most pronounced between non-Maltese young people 20-29, indicating 6,387 more non-Maltese males than their female counterparts.
Table 2.1: Maltese and Non-Maltese young people 10-19 years by gender
Table 2.2: Maltese and Non-Maltese young people 20-29 years by gender
Table 2.3 Non‐Maltese population by main citizenship & age
The census reports 31, 928 non-Maltese young people between 10 and 29 years old, giving information on their main citizenship type. Table 2.3 below shows main citizenship type of young people between 10 and 19 years and those between 20 and 29 years. The figures show that while the most prevalent main non-Maltese citizenship types in the overall population are Italian and British; this is not entirely reflected among the population of young people. While those holding Italian citizenship are most prevalent among those aged 10 and 19 years, the number of young people with Libyan citizenship within this age cohort in Malta is larger than those that have British citizenship. The figures for young people between 20 and 29 years yet again demonstrate that Italian citizenship is the most prevalent among non-Maltese in Malta. Young people with Indian citizenship are a close second.
The number of young people with Nepalese, Filipino, Albanian, and Serbian citizenship also exceeds the young people with British main citizenship in Malta. Other than Italy and Bulgaria, the report presents a global number of people with citizenship from other EU member states, and a separate figure for citizenship from other European Countries. Out of 171 stateless people in Malta, 54 are young people between 10 and 29, which is 31.6 of the overall stateless population in Malta.
Table 2.4 condenses the information on the main citizenship of non-Maltese young people indicating that the number of young people 10-29 with EU and wider European Citizenship (together amounting to 15, 867 young people) is less than the collective number of young people with citizenship from other parts of the world (16, 007).
Table 2.4 Non-Maltese population by main citizenship type
The Census report gives information regarding the prevalence of multiple citizenships among the Maltese and non-Maltese residents in Malta. 3,487 young people between 10 and 29 years with Maltese (main) citizenship have multiple citizenships, making up 4.09% of the cohort of Maltese young people between 10 and 29 years. 2.3% of non-Maltese young people between 10 and 29 years have multiple citizenships, equivalent to 728 young people.
Secondary citizenship for young Maltese (10-29 years) is most likely to be British, Australian, American, Canadian, Italian and Russian. Table 2.5 below shows the type of secondary citizenship held by Maltese young people, including the prevalence as percentage of young people 10-29 years who are holders of multiple citizenships.
Table 2.5
This article has continued to build the knowledge of young people in Malta through the data provided by the NSO through the 2021 census. While Part 1 of this article published in the previous newsletter gave an overview of the number of young people as part of the population in Malta, this article gives an overview of the citizenship of young people 10-29 years old residing in Malta. The data shows how the number of non-Maltese young people has increased to 27%, with a pronounced diversity showing that both European and non-European young people are making Malta their home.