An annual event observed by the United Nations on 11 July is World Population Day. The theme selected to observe the 21st year of this international day is ‘counting everyone’. To mark this occasion, a set of demographic statistics for 2009 is being released by the NSO.

The total population as at the end of December 2009 amounted to 412,970, of whom 49.7 per cent were males and 50.3 per cent were females. An age breakdown reveals that 22.3 per cent were under 20, while another 14.8 per cent were 65 and over. The total population is estimated by taking into account the difference between births and deaths, which is referred to as the natural increase, as well as the net migration change, which is the balance between immigration and emigration. In the year under review, the population registered a slight decrease of 0.2 per cent over 2008. This was mainly attributed to a negative net migration.

According to projections, in 2050 the percentage of under-20 individuals is expected to decrease from 22.3 in 2009 to 17.3 per cent. On the other hand, the share of persons aged 65 and over is expected to increase to 24.3 per cent.

In 2009, registered births totalled 4,143. The majority (94.2 per cent) were registered as Maltese and 51.8 per cent were boys. In the year under review, 3,221 deaths were registered, 0.7 per cent less over 2008; of these, 51.9 per cent were males. The majority of deceased persons (63.2 per cent) were over 75. In comparison with the previous year, infant deaths fell by 35.3 per cent, to 22 in 2009.

Marriages registered in Malta and Gozo in 2009 amounted to 2,353, a drop of 5.2 per cent over 2008. Of these, 35.4 per cent were civil marriages (Table 6). The majority of spouses were between 25 and 29 years of age. Forty-five grooms and 19 brides were 60 and over. In 2009, 499 separations were registered in Malta, the majority involving Maltese partners. There were 33 divorces obtained abroad and recognised by the Maltese authorities. A total of 147 annulments were registered in the year under review, of which nearly 39 per cent were in respect of marriages that lasted 10-19 years. With regard to the type of annulment, nearly half of all religious annulments in the period under review related to marriages of a 10-19 year duration, while civil annulments accounted for 71.4 per cent of the total.

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