Political parties spar on child poverty in Malta
PN says the percentage of children at risk of poverty has risen
The PN and the PL sparred on child poverty on Wednesday after the former pointed to a rise in the number of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
Nationalist MPs told a press conference that according to EU data, 26% of children in Malta were at risk of poverty or social exclusion last year, the highest percentage since 2017.
According to Eurostat, Malta's rate was now higher than the EU average, which, contrary to Malta’s trend, had decreased since 2023.
Ivan Bartolo insisted that poverty was not inevitable, but rather the result of political decisions. He said the country should not continue to accept that some children fall behind simply because they are born into difficult circumstances. Every child needed to be seen as an investment in the country’s present and future. This must include an early childhood education and care system that reaches children and shields them from poverty, as well as measures to ensure that no child feels disadvantaged in their early years of compulsory education.
Graziella Attard Previ emphasised that the PN was committed to tackling child poverty because it was both a moral obligation and a fundamental right of every child to live with dignity.
Albert Buttigieg highlighted the need to strengthen families through proposals that prevent more children from ending up on the margins of society. Families in difficulty could lead to children feeling more vulnerable in the face of life’s challenges.
The MPs said a future Nationalist government would work along a policy that breaks the cycle of poverty and gives every child in Malta a better future through access to education, healthcare and nutrition, targeted government initiatives such as child benefits and social assistance, supporting parents through stable employment and community support.
In a reaction, the Labour Party said that in the last 12 years, the percentage of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion had decreased from 32% to 25.9%.
This decrease was double that observed across the European Union.
This was made possible thanks to the government's investment in Maltese and Gozitan families and a successful employment policy that yielded a better standard of living for Maltese and Gozitan children.
The recently-launched Social Plan for the Family 2025-2030 would see further increases in children allowance and other benefits, improvement in maternity leave, paternity leave and parental leave, measures for a better work-life balance, a child-minding allowance for grandparents caring for grandchildren other measures in the fields of education, housing and health.