413 people fined for smoking in bars and clubs last year
Meanwhile, 38 establishment owners were fined for letting them
Some 413 smokers were fined for lighting up in bars and restaurants last year, while 38 people were given contraventions for allowing patrons to smoke inside.
The figures emerged in parliament on Monday, when Opposition MP Ivan Bartolo asked Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri how many people were prosecuted for smoking inside establishments.
Fines for first-time offences range from just over €230 to around €1,165, with daily fines liable for repeat offences, leading to imprisonment in certain cases.
Malta first introduced a smoking ban in April 2004, allowing smoking indoors so long as the area was ventilated and cut off from the rest of the establishment, with a complete ban on smoking in public places coming into force in 2013.
More than a fifth (22%) of Maltese aged 15 and above were smokers in 2023 – the most recent year for which data was available – according to Eurostat, sitting slightly below the EU average (24%) for three years earlier.
Just over a quarter (26%) of men said they were smokers that year, compared to 18% of women, the data shows.
A 2021 European Commission survey found that, at the time, Maltese smokers were among the most likely Europeans to light up every single day, with 97% of smokers in Malta lighting up a cigarette at least once a day – the second-highest result across the EU at the time and significantly higher than the EU average of 67%.
That year, Maltese smokers said they smoked an average of 14 cigarettes a day, two less than a three years earlier and in line with an EU-wide trend of smokers limiting their consumption.