Malta is the ninth most densely populated country of 235 countries/territories in the world (World Bank Report 2021): 1,384 persons per square kilometre. Only Monaco (26,523 per sq km), Gibraltar (3,369 per sq km) and the Vatican (1,845 per sq km) are more densely populated than we are in Europe.
We are the 10th smallest country in the world by total area (316 sq km). In Europe, only the Vatican (0.44 sq km), Monaco (2.02 sq km), San Marino (61sq km) and Liechtenstein (161 sq km) are smaller than we are. We are one of two island nations and can only leave by ferry or plane whereas all the others are landlocked allowing their citizens to cross borders into neighbouring counties at any time of night and day.
Fifty years ago, VS Naipaul published a selection of his essays in The Overcrowded Barracoon where he describes the formidable challenges faced by small, economically unviable islands caught up in their struggles for independence and their efforts not just to hoist their own flag and sing their own anthem but also to finally provide a decent life for their inhabitants.
The title he chooses is provocative, depicting small islands imprisoned in structural dependence and underdevelopment as they remain “overcrowded barracoons” even at the point where they were gaining their political freedom from colonialism. A barracoon is an enclosure where black slaves used to be confined for a period of time by their owners.
Malta has faced similar challenges. Reflecting on the work of the development economist Dudley Seers, who was an adviser to Dom Mintoff in the 1950s, Barbara Ingham observes how Seers learned from the experience of a country like Malta on the European periphery.
Indeed, in later years he cited Mintoff as a brilliant example of a politician who could exploit special geopolitical circumstances to the advantage of a small economy, with a poor base in terms of natural resources.
The Malta case, he argued, was one of those which contradicts ‘vulgar’ dependency notions, where external forces wholly determine internal political success. Much depends on the intelligence of political leaders and their assessment of what can be accomplished, given the multiplicity of constraints under which they operate.
Malta has come a long way in the last 70 years.
Out of 189 countries, Malta is ranked in 28th place in the Human Development Index compiled by the United Nations and used to quantify a country’s “average achievement in three basic dimensions of human development: a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living”.
But this great achievement cannot make us complacent as, today, we face new huge challenges to ensure our viability as a microstate providing a decent standard of living to our people in a world that has changed so much. We have new problems to address and old solutions will simply not work.
Our population has now reached 516,000. Many feel we have become too overcrowded: too many people, too many cars, too many buildings. By 2050, our population is expected to reach 668,000.
What is our carrying capacity as a country? Carrying capacity is defined as “the number of individuals who can be supported in a given area within natural resource limits and without degrading the natural social, cultural and economic environment for present and future generations”.
Are the Maltese ready to go back to work in catering and hotels, construction, public cleansing and agriculture?- Evarist Bartolo
Have we reached this limit already? How many more people, buildings, cars and the corresponding increase in schools, hospitals and general infrastructure can we cater for without collapsing?
These are not easy questions to answer. We definitely need at least enough economic growth to sustain our standards of living and revenue for public and social services. But we cannot simply procrastinate and hope for the best.
Our population growth has definitely not come from our birth rate, which has declined and become among the lowest in Europe. Only 4,414 babies were born in Malta in 2020, around a third to foreign parents, compared to 10,281 babies who were born in 1950.
Our growth in population has come from immigration. A few thousands have entered Malta irregularly but most foreign workers come here because we don’t have enough Maltese people to fill up the jobs that are being created.
We create 12,000 jobs every year while 4,000 Maltese are available a year to enter the job market. So, 8,000 workers have to come from abroad.
We must decide: if we complain about an invasion of foreign workers without increasing our own birth rate, isn’t it natural that more foreigners will work here? Or do we want to shrink the economy? How can weak economic growth sustain a strong welfare state and adequate public services? Without foreign workers are the Maltese ready to go back to work in catering and hotels, construction, public cleansing and agriculture? Who will fill the jobs for which we do not have the necessary skills?
At the end of last year, we had 77,825 workers coming from all the continents of the world. Forty-four per cent came from the European Union while the remaining 56 per cent came from the rest of the world. Sixty-seven per cent of our foreign workers come from Europe (including Italy, the United Kingdom, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia…).
Another 25 per cent came from Asia (Philippines, India and China). Six per cent came from Africa (mostly Eritrea and Somalia) and the remaining two per cent came from the American continent.
We face tough challenges to ensure that Malta is a liveable country. Already as things stand, in the Numbeo Index made up of quality of life, purchasing power, safety, health, cost of living, property prices, commuting time, pollution and climate we are ranked a lowly 62 out of 87 countries.
Unless we take steps to improve our quality of life on these islands, things will only get worse. We must not let that happen.
Evarist Bartolo is a former education and foreign minister.