Total population in Malta and Gozo up 1.2% on last year – NSO

In 1989, the Governing Council of the United Nations Development Programme recommended that 11 July be observed by the international community as World Population Day, a day to focus attention on the urgency and importance of population issues. This year's theme is 'Investing in teenage girls.'

Teenage girls around the world face enormous challenges. Many are considered by their communities or parents to be ready for marriage and motherhood. Many are forced from school, damaging their future prospects.

Even among girls who stay in school, access to basic information about their health, human rights and reproductive rights can be hard to come by, leaving them vulnerable to illness, injury and exploitation.

These challenges are exacerbated among marginalised girls, such as members of ethnic minorities or those living in poverty or remote areas.

To mark World Population Day, the National Statistics office has issued the following information.

The total population of Malta and Gozo at the end of 2015 stood at 434,403, up by 1.2 per cent when compared to 2014.

The Maltese population accounted for 92.9 per cent of the total population. Persons under 18 made up 17.4 per cent of the total, while a further 19.0 per cent were aged 65 and over. Of these, 2,482 persons – 1,754 females and 728 males – were over 89). The population increase was mainly due to net migration (immigration less emigration).

Live births registered during 2015 increased by 2.6 per cent over the previous year. During 2015, 106 babies, or 2.4 per cent, were born to teenage mothers.

On the other hand, almost two thirds of babies were born to mothers aged between 25 and 34. Of the 3,442 deaths registered during 2015, 65.1 per cent were persons aged over 74 years.

An increase of 131 registered marriages was observed last year: an increase of 139 marriages in Malta and a decrease of 8 marriages in Gozo. Civil marriages accounted for 49.3 per cent of the total in 2015, an increase of 6.7 per cent over the previous year.

From the total marriages registered, 20.4 per cent were between spouses aged 25-29. 30.6 per cent of grooms were between the ages of 25 and 29 while a further 29.3 per cent were aged between 30 and 34.

Slightly more than 40 per cent of brides were between 25 and 29 years old, 23.2 per cent were between the ages of 30 and 34 and a further 10.8 per cent were between 20 and 24 years of age.