Updated 7.40pm

Almost 28,000 people in Malta struggle to meet their basic needs and are considered to be severely deprived according to an EU-wide metric, a study of poverty in 2021 has found. 

The 5.5% rate of severe material and social deprivation is the highest registered in Malta since 2015 and continues an upward trend that followed the record 3% rate registered in 2018. 

Rising poverty rates are also being registered for those in less dire straits: a third of the population could afford a one-week annual holiday away from home last year, and 15.7% of those surveyed said that their household would not be able to settle an unexpected financial expense of €770 and over.

The figures are derived from the European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey for 2021, a harmonised statistical enquiry which aims to collect comparable data on income, health and disability, employment, and material deprivation. 

The survey was carried out by the National Statistics Office. 

Rise in deprivation rate

The annual EU-wide study calculates deprivation rates within a society by asking respondents to state whether they can afford to do various things, from facing an unexpected financial expense to buying a car, going on holiday or making rent or home loan payments. 

Respondents who cannot afford at least five of the 13 listed items are considered materially and socially deprived. Those who cannot afford seven or more are deemed severely deprived. 

In 2021, Malta's material and social deprivation rate stood at 9.8% (49,769 people) whereas the severe material and social deprivation rate stood at 5.5% (27,769). 

Both those figures represent increases from 2020, when the corresponding figures stood at 9.4% and 5.1% respectively.

Severely deprived up by 8,000 people since 2017

The percentage of Malta's population that is considered materially and socially deprived reached a low of 8.3% back in 2017, having been as high as 15.6% in 2015.

But the rate has gradually crept up over the past years and is now just below the 10% mark.

The data suggests that the number of severely materially and socially deprived people in Malta increased by more than 8,000 people between 2017 and 2021. 

More than 12,500 additional people are now considered to be deprived.  

Moreover, 7.8% do not afford to keep their home adequately warm in winter and a further 7.8% said their household was in arrears on mortgage or rent payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments.

6.1% cannot afford very basic needs

It was also revealed that less than 6.1% of the surveyed population said their household could not afford very basic needs, such as replacing worn-out clothes with new (not second-hand) ones, or, owning two pairs of properly-fitting shoes (including a pair of all-weather shoes). 

With reference to the indicators which reflect quality of life, 7.7% indicated that they do not afford to get together with friends or family for a drink/meal at least once a month, while 10.4% stated they could not regularly participate in a leisure activity, such as sports or a concert.

In each quality-of-life indicator, the percentage of women who could not afford an item was higher than the percentage of men.

The 35-64-year-old cohort had the highest percentage of persons who could not afford to spend a small figure of money on themselves (12.9%) while 3.6% of those aged 65 and over could not afford internet connection at home for personal use.

In 2021, 7.8% of children were living in severely materially and socially deprived households. 

And 5.3% per cent of adults aged between 18-64 years and 4% of those aged 65 years and over were also considered to be severely materially and socially deprived.

Households were also asked to state whether they were experiencing problems with their main dwelling. The most frequently reported problems in 2021 were pollution, grime or other environmental problems (33.9%) and noise from neighbours or from the street (31.5%).

A total 10.2% and 9.9% of the responding households respectively reported problems with crime, violence or vandalism in the area and with the dwelling being too dark or not sufficiently well lit.