People should not be called xenophobic for being concerned about overpopulation, Bernard Grech said.

“I think it is a mistake to come up which labels which are not fair to those who are trying to address the facts and are not trying to hide from the reality of our country,” the Nationalist Party leader said.

“The reality is that people are suffering; people feel that the country is overwhelmed,” Grech said.

Young people want to leave the country, most businesses think the country is going in the wrong direction and Malta’s infrastructure is under pressure because of population growth, Grech said.

On Monday evening, Times of Malta asked Grech if his comments in parliament last week fueled xenophobic sentiments.

Grech had told parliament that Malta’s population had “almost doubled” since 2013 and that official statistics are “hiding the true population of our country”.

Prime Minister Robert Abela criticised the statement, saying Grech had resorted to populist language.

A Times of Malta fact-check said Grech's statement on the doubling of Malta’s population was false as the population had increased by a quarter.

On Monday, Grech repeated his statements on population growth.

“I made a clear statement and I have been saying for months that our population almost doubled and I will keep on saying it despite the fact check made by the Times,” Grech commented on the doorstep of parliament. 

“You (Times of Malta) should research and investigate thoroughly,” Grech said.

The PN leader said thousands of people in Malta are not registered in official statistics.

Those include overstayers; some have Italian residence permits but come to Malta for months or years and others are undocumented, Grech said.

Grech said that talking about overpopulation does not mean you are attacking anyone.

“The media should be careful not to label someone (as xenophobic) when a label should not be given,” he said.

Grech said that he has spoken against modern slavery and abuse of foreigners in Malta several times.

Some people charge non-EU nationals for a job in Malta but fire them soon after so they can take money from others, he said.

“Let’s be careful because if we attack the messenger who is talking about the reality of abuse in our country, we will be doing a disservice to our country,” the opposition leader said.