Twelve per cent of children in Malta at the end of 2018 were foreigners, the National Statistics Office said in a statement issued on the occasion of World Children’s Day, being marked on Wednesday.
The NSO said that at the end of 2018, the resident population stood at 493,559. Of these, 80,196 were aged up to 17 years, 12% of whom were foreigners.
Data compiled by the NSO shows that this population segment decreased by 14,442 persons when compared to 2000 levels.
The total number of resident live births stood at 4,444, an increase of 125 over the previous year. The crude birth rate remained unchanged over the past year, at nine births per 1,000 population.
Statistics from the Labour Force Survey show that last year, 74,678 or 80% of parents with children aged up to 17 were employed. A gender breakdown showed that 96% of fathers and 65% of mothers were in employment.
Data from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions shows that 23% of the 0-17 age group were at-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion, four percentage points higher than the rate for the rest of the population.
EU-SILC revealed that, in 2018, 56,972 households had children aged up to 17.
Apartments and flats were the most common type of dwellings for such households followed by semi-detached or terraced houses, while 2,029 households lived in detached houses.
When analysing the data by tenure status, 83% of households with children aged up to 17 were as homeowners, 12% tenants.
During academic year 2017/2018, the number of students aged up to 17 enrolled in pre-primary, primary, secondary and post-secondary education was 63,182. Of these, 56,542 (89%) were Maltese, while 6,604 (10%) were foreign.
Italians, Britons and Libyans composed the largest shares of foreign students with 964, 842 and 591 respectively.
The majority attended state schools (61%), followed by Church and independent schools (27 and 12% respectively). The educational institutions hosting the largest number of students were in Birkirkara with 4,171, followed by Pembroke and Ħamrun with 3,574 and 2,791 respectively.
Meanwhile, Birkirkara, Mosta and Naxxar were the top three localities of residence for students aged up to 17 years.