Malta (/ˈmɒltə/ MOL-tə, /ˈmɔːltə/ MAWL-tə, Maltese: [ˈmɐːltɐ]), officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya. The two official languages are Maltese and English. The country's capital is Valletta, which is the smallest capital city in the EU by both area and population. It was also the first World Heritage City in Europe to become a European Capital of Culture in 2018.
Republic of Malta Repubblika ta' Malta (Maltese) | |
|---|---|
 Flag  Coat of arms | |
| Motto: Virtute et constantia (Latin) "Strength and persistence" | |
| Anthem: L-Innu Malti (Maltese) "The Maltese Hymn" | |
 Location of Malta (green circle) – in Europe (light green & dark grey) | |
| Capital | Valletta 35°54′N 14°31′E / 35.900°N 14.517°E |
| Largest administrative unit | St. Paul's Bay |
| Official languages | |
| Other languages | Maltese Sign Language Italian |
| Ethnic groups (2021) | |
| Religion (2021) |
|
| Demonym(s) | Maltese |
| Government | Unitary parliamentary republic |
• President | Myriam Spiteri Debono |
• Prime Minister | Robert Abela |
| Legislature | Parliament of Malta |
| Independence from the United Kingdom | |
• State of Malta | 21 September 1964 |
• Republic | 13 December 1974 |
| Area | |
• Total | 316 km2 (122 sq mi) (187th) |
• Water (%) | 0.001 |
| Population | |
• 2021 census | 519,562 |
• Density | 1,649/km2 (4,270.9/sq mi) (8th) |
| GDP (PPP) | 2024 estimate |
• Total |  $36.870 billion (140th) |
• Per capita | $67,682 (20th) |
| GDP (nominal) | 2024 estimate |
• Total | $22.737 billion (118th) |
• Per capita | $41,738 (25th) |
| Gini (2020) |  31.4medium inequality |
| HDI (2022) | 0.915 very high (25th) |
| Currency | Euro (€) (EUR) |
| Time zone | UTC+1 (Central European Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+2 (Central European Summer Time) |
| Calling code | +356 |
| ISO 3166 code | MT |
| Internet TLD | .mt[b] |
With a population of about 542,000 over an area of 316 km2 (122 sq mi), Malta is the world's tenth-smallest country by area and the ninth most densely populated. Various sources consider the country to consist of a single urban region, for which it is often described as a city-state.
Malta has been inhabited since about 5900 BC. Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great geostrategic importance, with a succession of powers having ruled the islands and shaped its culture and society. These include the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, Greeks, and Romans in antiquity; the Arabs, Normans, and Aragonese during the Middle Ages; and the Knights Hospitaller, French, and British in the modern era. Malta came under British rule in the early 19th century and served as the headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet. It was besieged by the Axis powers during World War II and was an important Allied base for North Africa and the Mediterranean. Malta achieved independence in 1964, and established its current parliamentary republic in 1974. It has been a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations since independence; it joined the European Union in 2004 and the eurozone monetary union in 2008.
Malta's long history of foreign rule and its proximity to both Europe and North Africa have influenced its art, music, cuisine, and architecture. Malta has close historical and cultural ties to Italy and especially Sicily; between 62 and 66 percent of Maltese people speak or have significant knowledge of the Italian language, which had official status from 1530 to 1934. Malta was an early centre of Christianity, and Roman Catholicism is the state religion, although the country's constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religious worship.
Malta is a developed country with an advanced high-income economy. It is heavily reliant on tourism, attracting both travellers and a growing expatriate community with its warm climate, numerous recreational areas, and architectural and historical monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, Valletta, and seven megalithic temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.
Name
The English name Malta derives from Italian and Maltese Malta, from medieval Arabic Māliṭā (مَالِطَا), from classical Latin Melita, from latinised or Doric forms of the ancient Greek Melítē (Μελίτη) of uncertain origin. The name Melítē—shared by the Croatian island Mljet in antiquity—literally means "place of honey" or "sweetness", derived from the combining form of méli (μέλι, "honey" or any similarly sweet thing) and the suffix -ē (-η). The ancient Greeks may have given the island this name after Malta's endemic subspecies of bees. Alternatively, other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name from an original Phoenician or Punic Maleth (𐤌𐤋𐤈, mlṭ), meaning "haven" or "port" in reference to the Grand Harbour and its primary settlement at Cospicua following the sea level rise that separated the Maltese islands and flooded its original coastal settlements in the 10th century BC. The name was then applied to all of Malta by the Greeks and to its ancient capital at Mdina by the Romans.
Malta and its demonym Maltese are attested in English from the late 16th century.English Bible translations including the 1611 King James Version long used the Vulgate Latin form Melita, although the 1525 Tyndale Bible used the transliteration Melite instead. Malta is widely used in more recent versions.
History
Prehistory
Malta has been inhabited from circa 5900 BC, since the arrival of settlers originating from European Neolithic agriculturalists. Pottery found by archaeologists at the Skorba Temples resembles that found in Italy, and suggests that the Maltese islands were first settled in 5200 BC by Stone Age hunters or farmers who had arrived from Sicily, possibly the Sicani. The extinction of the dwarf hippos, giant swans and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic include Għar Dalam. The population on Malta grew cereals, raised livestock and, in common with other ancient Mediterranean cultures, worshipped a fertility figure.
A culture of megalithic temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period. Around 3500 BC, these people built some of the oldest existing free-standing structures in the world in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo; other early temples include those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra. The temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BC. Tentative information suggests that animal sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, whose statue is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta. Another archaeological feature of the Maltese Islands often attributed to these ancient builders is equidistant uniform grooves dubbed "cart tracks" or "cart ruts" which can be found in several locations throughout the islands, with the most prominent being those found in Misraħ Għar il-Kbir. These may have been caused by wooden-wheeled carts eroding soft limestone. The culture apparently disappeared from the islands around 2500 BC, possibly due to famine or disease.
After 2500 BC, the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until an influx of Bronze Age immigrants, a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens. They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples. It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there.
Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans
Phoenician traderscolonised the islands under the name Ann (𐤀𐤍𐤍, ʾNN) sometime after 1000 BC as a stop on their trade routes from the eastern Mediterranean to Cornwall. Their seat of government was apparently at Mdina, which shared the island's name; the primary port was at Cospicua on the Grand Harbour, which they called Maleth. After the fall of Phoenicia in 332 BC, the area came under the control of Carthage. During this time, the people on Malta mainly cultivated olives and carob and produced textiles.
During the First Punic War, the island was conquered after harsh fighting by Marcus Atilius Regulus. After the failure of his expedition, the island fell back in the hands of Carthage, only to be conquered again during the Second Punic War in 218 BC by the Roman consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus. Malta became a Foederata Civitas, a designation that meant it was exempt from paying tribute or the rule of Roman law, and fell within the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily. Its capital at Mdina was renamed Melita after the Greek and Roman name for the island. Punic influence, however, remained vibrant on the islands with the famous Cippi of Melqart, pivotal in deciphering the Punic language, dedicated in the second century BC. Local Roman coinage, which ceased in the first century BC, indicates the slow pace of the island's Romanisation: the last locally minted coins still bear inscriptions in Ancient Greek and Punic motifs, showing the resistance of the Greek and Punic cultures.
In the second century, Emperor Hadrian (r. 117–38) upgraded the status of Malta to a municipium or free town: the island's local affairs were administered by four quattuorviri iuri dicundo and a municipal senate, while a Roman procurator living in Mdina represented the proconsul of Sicily. In AD 58, Paul the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist were shipwrecked on the islands. Paul remained for three months, preaching the Christian faith. The island is mentioned at the Acts of the Apostles as Melitene (Ancient Greek: Μελιτήνη).
In 395, when the Roman Empire was divided for the last time at the death of Theodosius I, Malta, following Sicily, fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire. During the Migration Period as the Western Roman Empire declined, Malta was conquered or occupied a number of times. From 454 to 464 the islands were subdued by the Vandals, and after 464 by the Ostrogoths. In 533, Belisarius, on his way to conquer the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa, reunited the islands under Imperial (Eastern) rule. Little is known about the Byzantine rule in Malta: the island depended on the theme of Sicily and had Greek governors and a small Greek garrison. While the bulk of population continued to be constituted by the old, Latinized dwellers, during this period its religious allegiance oscillated between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Byzantine rule introduced Greek families to the Maltese collective. Malta remained under the Byzantine Empire until 870, when it was conquered by the Arabs.
Arab period and the Middle Ages
Malta became involved in the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the conquest of Malta is closely linked with that of Sicily that began in 827 after Admiral Euphemius' betrayal of his fellow Byzantines, requesting that the Aghlabids invade the island. The Muslim chronicler and geographer al-Himyari recounts that in 870, following a violent struggle against the defending Byzantines, the Arab invaders, first led by Halaf al-Hadim, and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad, pillaged the island, destroying the most important buildings, and leaving it practically uninhabited until it was recolonised by the Arabs from Sicily in 1048–1049. It is uncertain whether this new settlement resulted from demographic expansion in Sicily, a higher standard of living in Sicily (in which case the recolonisation may have taken place a few decades earlier), or a civil war which broke out among the Arab rulers of Sicily in 1038. The Arab Agricultural Revolution introduced new irrigation, cotton, and some fruits. The Siculo-Arabic language was adopted on the island from Sicily; it eventually evolved into the Maltese language.
Norman conquest
The Normans attacked Malta in 1091, as part of their conquest of Sicily. The Norman leader, Roger I of Sicily, was welcomed by Christian captives, though contrary to myth he did not tear off a portion of his checkered red-and-white banner and present it to the Maltese in gratitude for having fought on his behalf, forming the basis of the modern flag of Malta.
Malta became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily, which also covered the island of Sicily and the southern Italian Peninsula. The Roman Catholic Church was reinstated as the state religion, with Malta under the See of Palermo, and some Norman architecture sprang up around Malta, especially in its ancient capital Mdina.King Tancred made Malta a fief of the kingdom and installed a Count of Malta in 1192. As the islands were much desired due to their strategic importance, it was during this time that the men of Malta were militarised to fend off attempted conquest; early Counts were skilled Genoese privateers.
The kingdom passed on to the Hohenstaufen dynasty from 1194 until 1266. As Emperor Frederick II began to reorganise his Sicilian kingdom, Western culture and religion started to exert their influence more intensely. Malta was declared a county and a marquisate, but its trade was totally ruined. For a long time it remained solely a fortified garrison.
A mass expulsion of Arabs occurred in 1224, and the entire Christian male population of Celano in Abruzzo was deported to Malta in the same year. In 1249 Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, decreed that all remaining Muslims be expelled from Malta or compelled to convert.
For a brief period, the kingdom passed to the Capetian House of Anjou, but high taxes made the dynasty unpopular in Malta, due in part to Charles of Anjou's war against the Republic of Genoa, and the island of Gozo was sacked in 1275.
Crown of Aragon, the Knights of Malta and Portuguese Rule
Malta was ruled by the House of Barcelona, the ruling dynasty of the Crown of Aragon, from 1282 to 1409, with the Aragonese aiding the Maltese insurgents in the Sicilian Vespers in the naval battle in Grand Harbour in 1283.
Relatives of the kings of Aragon ruled the island until 1409 when it formally passed to the Crown of Aragon. Early on in the Aragonese ascendancy, the sons of the monarchs received the title Count of Malta. During this time much of the local nobility was created. By 1397, however, the bearing of the comital title reverted to a feudal basis, with two families fighting over the distinction. This led King Martin I of Sicily to abolish the title. The dispute over the title returned when the title was reinstated a few years later and the Maltese, led by the local nobility, rose up against Count Gonsalvo Monroy. Although they opposed the Count, the Maltese voiced their loyalty to the Sicilian Crown, which so impressed King Alfonso V that he did not punish the people for their rebellion. Instead, he promised never to grant the title to a third party and incorporated it back into the crown. The city of Mdina was given the title of Città Notabile.
On 23 March 1530,Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, gave the islands to the Knights Hospitaller under the leadership of Frenchman Philippe Villiers de L'Isle-Adam, in perpetual lease for which they had to pay an annual tribute of a single Maltese Falcon. These knights, a military religious order also known as the Order of St John and later as the Knights of Malta, had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522.
The Knights Hospitaller ruled Malta and Gozo between 1530 and 1798. During this period, the strategic and military importance of the island grew greatly as the small yet efficient fleet of the Order of Saint John launched their attacks from this new base targeting the shipping lanes of the Ottoman territories around the Mediterranean Sea.
In 1551, the population of the island of Gozo (around 5,000 people) were enslaved by Barbary pirates and taken to the Barbary Coast in North Africa.
The knights, led by Frenchman Jean Parisot de Valette, withstood the Great Siege of Malta by the Ottomans in 1565. The knights, with the help of Portuguese, Spanish and Maltese forces, repelled the attack. After the siege they decided to increase Malta's fortifications, particularly in the inner-harbour area, where the new city of Valletta, named in honour of Valette, was built. They also established watchtowers along the coasts – the Wignacourt, Lascaris and De Redin towers – named after the Grand Masters who ordered the work. The Knights saw the completion of many architectural and cultural projects, including the embellishment of Città Vittoriosa (modern Birgu) and the construction of new cities including Città Rohan (modern Ħaż-Żebbuġ). However, by the late 1700s the power of the Knights had declined and the Order had become unpopular.
French period and British conquest
The Knights' reign ended when Napoleon captured Malta on his way to Egypt during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1798. During 12–18 June 1798, Napoleon resided at the Palazzo Parisio in Valletta. He reformed national administration with the creation of a Government Commission, twelve municipalities, a public finance administration, the abolition of all feudal rights and privileges, the abolition of slavery and the granting of freedom to all Turkish and Jewish slaves. On the judicial level, a family code was framed and twelve judges were nominated. Public education was organised along principles laid down by Bonaparte himself, providing for primary and secondary education. He then sailed for Egypt, leaving a substantial garrison in Malta.
The French forces left behind became unpopular with the Maltese, due particularly to the French forces' hostility towards Catholicism and pillaging of local churches to fund war efforts. French financial and religious policies so angered the Maltese that they rebelled, forcing the French to depart. Great Britain, along with the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily, sent ammunition and aid to the Maltese, and Britain also sent its navy, which blockaded the islands.
On 28 October 1798, Captain Sir Alexander Ball successfully completed negotiations with the French garrison on Gozo for a surrender and transfer of the island to the British. The British transferred the island to the locals that day, and it was administered by Archpriest Saverio Cassar on behalf of Ferdinand III of Sicily. Gozo remained independent until Cassar was removed by the British in 1801.
General Claude-Henri Belgrand de Vaubois surrendered his French forces in 1800. Maltese leaders presented the main island to Sir Alexander Ball, asking that the island become a British Dominion. The Maltese people created a Declaration of Rights in which they agreed to come "under the protection and sovereignty of the King of the free people, His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland". The Declaration also stated that "his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power...if he chooses to withdraw his protection, and abandon his sovereignty, the right of electing another sovereign, or of the governing of these Islands, belongs to us, the inhabitants and aborigines alone, and without control."
British Empire and the Second World War
In 1814, as part of the Treaty of Paris, Malta officially became a part of the British Empire and was used as a shipping way-station and fleet headquarters. After the Suez Canal opened in 1869, Malta's position halfway between the Strait of Gibraltar and Egypt proved to be its main asset, and it was considered an important stop on the way to India, a central trade route for the British. A Turkish Military Cemetery was commissioned by Sultan Abdul Aziz and built between 1873 and 1874 for the fallen Ottoman soldiers of the Great Siege of Malta.
Between 1915 and 1918, during the First World War, Malta became known as the Nurse of the Mediterranean due to the large number of wounded soldiers who were accommodated there. On 7 June 1919, the Maltese public rioted in response to a cost-of-living crisis; British troops eventually managed to suppress the riots, killing four in the process. The event, known as Sette Giugno ("7 June"), is commemorated every year and is one of five National Days. Until the Second World War, Maltese politics was dominated by the Language Question fought out by Italophone and Anglophone parties.
Before the Second World War, Valletta was the location of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean fleet headquarters; however, despite Winston Churchill's objections, the command was moved to Alexandria, Egypt, in 1937 out of fear that it was too susceptible to air attacks from Europe. During the war Malta played an important role for the Allies; being a British colony, situated close to Sicily and the Axis shipping lanes, Malta was bombarded by the Italian and German air forces. Malta was used by the British to launch attacks on the Italian Navy and had a submarine base. It was also used as a listening post, intercepting German radio messages including Enigma traffic. The bravery of the Maltese people during the second siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on 15 April 1942. Some historians argue that the award caused Britain to incur disproportionate losses in defending Malta, as British credibility would have suffered if Malta had surrendered, as British forces in Singapore had done. A depiction of the George Cross now appears on the Flag of Malta and the country's arms.
Independence and Republic
Malta achieved its independence as the State of Malta on 21 September 1964 (Independence Day). Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta and thus head of state, with a governor-general exercising executive authority on her behalf. In 1971, the Malta Labour Party led by Dom Mintoff won the general elections, resulting in Malta declaring itself a republic on 13 December 1974 (Republic Day) within the Commonwealth. A defence agreement was signed soon after independence, and after being re-negotiated in 1972, expired on 31 March 1979 (Freedom Day). Upon its expiry, the British base closed and lands formerly controlled by the British were given to the Maltese government.
In the aftermath of the departure of the remaining British troops in 1979, the country intensified its participation in the Non-Aligned Movement. Malta adopted a policy of neutrality in 1980. In that same year, three of Malta's sites, including the capital Valletta, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List. In 1989, Malta was the venue of a summit between US President George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, their first face-to-face encounter, which signalled the end of the Cold War.Malta International Airport was inaugurated and became fully operational on 25 March 1992, boosting the local aircraft and tourism industry. A referendum on joining the European Union was held on 8 March 2003, with 53.65% in favour. Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and the eurozone on 1 January 2008.
Politics
Prime Minister of Malta
since 13 January 2020
Malta is a republic whose parliamentary system and public administration are closely modelled on the Westminster system. The unicameral parliament is made up of the president of Malta and the House of Representatives (Maltese: Kamra tad-Deputati).
The House of Representatives has 65 members, elected for a five-year term in 13 five-seat electoral divisions, called distretti elettorali, with constitutional amendments that allow for mechanisms to establish strict proportionality amongst seats and votes of political parliamentary groups. Members of the House of Representatives are elected by direct universal suffrage through single transferable vote every five years, unless the House is dissolved earlier by the president either on the advice of the prime minister or through a motion of no confidence. Malta had the second-highest voter turnout in the world (and the highest for nations without mandatory voting), based on election turnout in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995.
The President of Malta, a largely ceremonial position, is appointed for a five-year term by a resolution of the House of Representatives carried by a simple majority. The president is the head of state. The current president of the republic is Myriam Spiteri Debono, who was elected on 27 March 2024, by members of parliament in an indirect election. The 80th article of the Constitution of Malta provides that the president appoint as prime minister "the member of the House of Representatives who, in his judgment, is best able to command the support of a majority of the members of that House".
Maltese politics is a two-party system dominated by the Labour Party (Maltese: Partit Laburista), a centre-left social democratic party, and the Nationalist Party (Maltese: Partit Nazzjonalista), a centre-right Christian democratic party. The Labour Party has been the governing party since 2013 and is currently led by Prime Minister Robert Abela, who has been in office since 13 January 2020. There are also a number of small political parties in Malta which have no parliamentary representation.
Corruption, money laundering, and government maladministration in Malta have significantly increased since the Labour Party returned to power. In fact, Malta's record of clean governance has decreased since 2013, and the country is now considered among one of the worst EU member states in tackling corruption according to Transparency International. The same association reported that Malta dropped to its lowest ever ranking of 65th place in a report published on February 2025.
Administrative divisions
Malta has had a system of local government since 1993, based on the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The country is divided into six regions (one of them being Gozo), with each region having its own Regional Council, serving as the intermediate level between local government and national government. The regions are divided into local councils, of which there are currently 68 (54 in Malta and 14 in Gozo). The six districts (five on Malta and the sixth being Gozo) serve primarily statistical purposes.
Each council is made up of a number of councillors (from 5 to 13, depending on and relative to the population they represent). A mayor and a deputy mayor are elected by and from the councillors. The executive secretary, who is appointed by the council, is the executive, administrative and financial head of the council. Councillors are elected every four years through the single transferable vote. Due to system reforms, no elections were held before 2012. Since then, elections have been held every two years for an alternating half of the councils.
Local councils are responsible for the general upkeep and embellishment of the locality (including repairs to non-arterial roads), allocation of local wardens, and refuse collection; they also carry out general administrative duties for the central government such as the collection of government rents and funds and answer government-related public inquiries. Additionally, a number of individual towns and villages in the Republic of Malta have sister cities.
Military
The objectives of the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) are to maintain a military organisation with the primary aim of defending the islands' integrity according to the defence roles as set by the government in an efficient and cost-effective manner. This is achieved by emphasising the maintenance of Malta's territorial waters and airspace integrity.
The AFM also engages in combating terrorism, fighting against illicit drug trafficking, conducting anti-illegal immigrant operations and patrols, and anti-illegal fishing operations, operating search and rescue (SAR) services, and physical or electronic security and surveillance of sensitive locations. Malta's search-and-rescue area extends from east of Tunisia to west of Crete, an area of around 250,000 km2 (97,000 sq mi).
As a military organisation, the AFM provides backup support to the Malta Police Force (MPF) and other government departments/agencies in situations as required in an organised, disciplined manner in the event of national emergencies (such as natural disasters) or internal security and bomb disposal.
In 2020, Malta signed and ratified the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Human rights
Malta is regarded as one of the most LGBT-supportive countries in the world, and was the first nation in the European Union to prohibit conversion therapy. Malta also constitutionally bans discrimination based on disability. Maltese legislation recognises both civil and canonical (ecclesiastical) marriages. Annulments by the ecclesiastical and civil courts are unrelated and are not necessarily mutually endorsed. Malta voted in favour of divorce legislation in a referendum held on 28 May 2011.
Abortion in Malta is illegal. It and Poland are the only European Union members with near-total bans on the procedure. There are no exceptions for rape or incest. On 21 November 2022, the government led by the Labour Party proposed a bill that "introduces a new clause into the country's criminal code allowing for the termination of a pregnancy if the mother's life is at risk or if her health is in serious jeopardy"; the bill passed in June 2023 with amendments restricting the exception to situations where the woman's life is at risk.
Geography
Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean (in its eastern basin), some 80 km (50 mi) from southern Italy across the Malta Channel. Only the three largest islands—Malta (Maltese: Malta), Gozo (Għawdex), and Comino (Kemmuna)—are inhabited. The islands of the archipelago lie on the Malta plateau, a shallow shelf formed from the high points of a land bridge between Sicily and North Africa that became isolated as sea levels rose after the last ice age. The archipelago is located on the African tectonic plate. Malta was considered an island of North Africa for centuries. The seabed surrounding Malta's islands retains traces of ancient geomarine features, suggesting potential archaeological discoveries that could shed light on the region's prehistoric environment.
Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide good harbours. The landscape consists of low hills with terraced fields. The highest point in Malta is Ta' Dmejrek, at 253 m (830 ft), near Dingli. Although there are some small rivers at times of high rainfall, there are no permanent rivers or lakes on Malta. However, some watercourses have fresh water running all year round at Baħrija near Ras ir-Raħeb, at l-Imtaħleb and San Martin, and at Lunzjata Valley in Gozo.
Phytogeographically, Malta belongs to the Liguro-Tyrrhenian province of the Mediterranean region within the Boreal Kingdom. According to the WWF, the territory of Malta belongs to the terrestrial ecoregion of Tyrrhenian-Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests.
The following uninhabited minor islands are part of the archipelago:
- Barbaġanni Rock (Gozo)
- Cominotto (Kemmunett)
- Dellimara Island (Marsaxlokk)
- Filfla (Żurrieq)/(Siġġiewi)
- Fessej Rock
- Fungus Rock (Il-Ġebla tal-Ġeneral), (Gozo)
- Għallis Rock (Naxxar)
- Ħalfa Rock (Gozo)
- Large Blue Lagoon Rocks (Comino)
- Islands of St. Paul/Selmunett Island (Mellieħa)
- Manoel Island, which connects to the town of Gżira, on the mainland via a bridge
- Mistra Rocks (San Pawl il-Baħar)
- Taċ-Ċawl Rock (Gozo)
- Qawra Point/Ta' Fraben Island (San Pawl il-Baħar)
- Small Blue Lagoon Rocks (Comino)
- Sala Rock (Żabbar)
- Xrobb l-Għaġin Rock (Marsaxlokk)
- Ta' taħt il-Mazz Rock
Climate
Malta has a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification Csa), with mild winters and hot summers, hotter in the inland areas. Rain occurs mainly in autumn and winter, with summer being generally dry.
The average yearly temperature is around 23 °C (73 °F) during the day and 15.5 °C (59.9 °F) at night. In the coldest month – January – the typical maximum temperature ranges from 12 to 18 °C (54 to 64 °F) during the day and minimum 6 to 12 °C (43 to 54 °F) at night. In the warmest month – August – the typical maximum temperature ranges from 28 to 34 °C (82 to 93 °F) during the day and minimum 20 to 24 °C (68 to 75 °F) at night. Amongst all capitals in the continent of Europe, Valletta – the capital of Malta has the warmest winters, with average temperatures of around 15 to 16 °C (59 to 61 °F) during the day and 9 to 10 °C (48 to 50 °F) at night in the period January–February. In March and December average temperatures are around 17 °C (63 °F) during the day and 11 °C (52 °F) at night. Large fluctuations in temperature are rare. Snow is very rare, although snowfalls have been recorded in the last century, the last one in 2014.
The average annual sea temperature is 20 °C (68 °F), from 15–16 °C (59–61 °F) in February to 26 °C (79 °F) in August. In the 6 months – from June to November – the average sea temperature exceeds 20 °C (68 °F).
The annual average relative humidity is high, averaging 75%, ranging from 65% in July (morning: 78% evening: 53%) to 80% in December (morning: 83% evening: 73%).
Sunshine duration hours total around 3,000 per year, from an average 5.2 hours of sunshine duration per day in December to an average above 12 hours in July. This is about double that of cities in the northern half of Europe,[original research?] for comparison: London – 1,461; however, in winter it has up to four times more sunshine; for comparison: in December, London has 37 hours of sunshine whereas Malta has above 160.
| Climate data for Malta (Luqa in the south-east part of main island, 1991–2020) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 15.7 (60.3) | 15.7 (60.3) | 17.4 (63.3) | 20.0 (68.0) | 24.2 (75.6) | 28.7 (83.7) | 31.7 (89.1) | 32.0 (89.6) | 28.6 (83.5) | 25.0 (77.0) | 20.8 (69.4) | 17.2 (63.0) | 23.1 (73.6) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 12.9 (55.2) | 12.6 (54.7) | 14.1 (57.4) | 16.4 (61.5) | 20.1 (68.2) | 24.2 (75.6) | 26.9 (80.4) | 27.5 (81.5) | 24.9 (76.8) | 21.8 (71.2) | 17.9 (64.2) | 14.5 (58.1) | 19.5 (67.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 10.1 (50.2) | 9.5 (49.1) | 10.9 (51.6) | 12.8 (55.0) | 15.8 (60.4) | 19.6 (67.3) | 22.1 (71.8) | 23.0 (73.4) | 21.2 (70.2) | 18.4 (65.1) | 14.9 (58.8) | 11.8 (53.2) | 15.9 (60.6) |
| Average precipitation mm (inches) | 79.3 (3.12) | 73.2 (2.88) | 45.3 (1.78) | 20.7 (0.81) | 11.0 (0.43) | 6.2 (0.24) | 0.2 (0.01) | 17.0 (0.67) | 60.7 (2.39) | 81.8 (3.22) | 91.0 (3.58) | 93.7 (3.69) | 580.7 (22.86) |
| Average precipitation days (≥ 1.0 mm) | 10.0 | 8.2 | 6.1 | 3.8 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 4.3 | 6.6 | 8.7 | 10.0 | 61 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 169.3 | 178.1 | 227.2 | 253.8 | 309.7 | 336.9 | 376.7 | 352.2 | 270.0 | 223.8 | 195.0 | 161.2 | 3,054 |
| Source: Meteo Climate (1991–2020 Data), MaltaWeather.com (Sun data) | |||||||||||||
Urbanisation
According to Eurostat, Malta is composed of two larger urban zones nominally referred to as "Valletta" (the main island of Malta) and "Gozo". The main urban area covers the entire main island, with a population of around 400,000. The core of the urban area, the greater city of Valletta, has a population of 205,768. According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat, the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480,134. According to the United Nations, about 95 percent of the area of Malta is urban and the number grows every year. According to ESPON and EU Commission studies, "the whole territory of Malta constitutes a single urban region".
Malta, with area of 316 km2 (122 sq mi) and population of over 0.5 million, is one of the most densely populated countries worldwide. It is in some sources referred to as a city-state. Sometimes Malta is listed in rankings concerning cities or metropolitan areas.
Flora
Malta contains only 4.6 square kilometres of naturally regenerating forest, characterised by mature trees with a height of 2 to 5 meters. The overall area occupied by trees is estimated to be 320 square kilometres, which constitutes approximately 1.44% of the total land area of the archipelago. The most common indigenous tree species are the willow (Salix alba), poplar (Populus alba), olive (Olea europaea), carob (Ceratonia siliqua), oak (Quericus ilex & Quercus rotundifolia), Aleppo pine (Pinus halepensis), laurel (Laurus nobilis) and fig (Ficus carica), while the most common non-native trees are eucalyptus, acacia, date palm and opuntia. The Maltese islands are also home to a wide diversity of indigenous, sub-endemic and endemic plants. They feature many traits typical of a Mediterranean climate, such as drought resistance. Endemic plants include the national flower widnet il-baħar (Cheirolophus crassifolius), sempreviva ta' Malta (Helichrysum panormitanum subsp. melitense), żigland t' Għawdex (Hyoseris frutescens) and ġiżi ta' Malta (Matthiola incana subsp. melitensis) while sub-endemics include kromb il-baħar (Jacobaea maritima subsp. sicula) and xkattapietra (Micromeria microphylla). The biodiversity of Malta is severely endangered by habitat loss, invasive species and human intervention.
Economy
This section needs to be updated. (December 2019) |
Malta is classified as an advanced economy according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Malta's major resources are limestone, a favourable geographic location and a productive labour force. Malta produces only about 20 percent of its food needs, has limited fresh water supplies because of the drought in the summer, and has no domestic energy sources, aside from the potential for solar energy from its plentiful sunlight. The economy is dependent on foreign trade (serving as a freight trans-shipment point), manufacturing (especially electronics and textiles), and tourism.Film production has contributed to the Maltese economy.
Access to biocapacity in Malta is below the world average. In 2016, Malta had 0.6 global hectares of biocapacity per person within its territory, contrasted with a global average of 1.6 hectares per person. Additionally, residents of Malta exhibited an ecological footprint of consumption of 5.8 global hectares of biocapacity per person, resulting in a sizable biocapacity deficit.
In preparation for Malta's membership in the European Union, which it joined on 1 May 2004, it privatised some state-controlled firms and liberalised markets. Malta has a financial regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority (MFSA), with a strong business development mindset, and the country has been successful in attracting gaming businesses, aircraft and ship registration, credit-card issuing banking licences and also fund administration. Malta has made strong headway in implementing EU Financial Services Directives including UCITs IV and Alternative Investment Fund Managers (AIFMs). As a base for alternative asset managers who must comply with new directives, Malta has attracted a number of key players including IDS, Iconic Funds, Apex Fund Services and TMF/Customs House.
As of 2015, Malta did not have a property tax. Its property market, especially around the harbour area, was booming, with the prices of apartments in some towns like St Julian's, Sliema and Gzira skyrocketing.
According to Eurostat data, Maltese GDP per capita stood at 88 per cent of the EU average in 2015 with €21,000.
The National Development and Social Fund from the Individual Investor Programme, a citizenship by investment programme also known as the "citizenship scheme", became a significant income source for the government of Malta, adding 432,000,000 euro to the budget in 2018.
Banking and finance
The two largest commercial banks are Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta. Digital banks such as Revolut have also increased in popularity. The Central Bank of Malta (Bank Ċentrali ta' Malta) has two key areas of responsibility: the formulation and implementation of monetary policy and the promotion of a sound and efficient financial system. The Maltese government entered ERM II on 4 May 2005, and adopted the euro as the country's currency on 1 January 2008.
Currency
Maltese euro coins feature the Maltese cross on €2 and €1 coins, the coat of arms of Malta on the €0.50, €0.20 and €0.10 coins, and the Mnajdra Temples on the €0.05, €0.02 and €0.01 coins.
Malta has produced collectors' coins with face value ranging from 10 to 50 euros. These coins continue an existing national practice of minting of silver and gold commemorative coins. Unlike normal issues, these coins are not accepted in all the eurozone.
From its introduction in 1972 until the introduction of the Euro in 2008, the currency was the Maltese lira, which had replaced the Maltese pound. The pound replaced the Maltese scudo in 1825.
Tourism
Malta is a popular tourist destination, with 1.6 million tourists per year, three times more tourists visit than there are residents. Tourism infrastructure has increased dramatically over the years and a number of hotels are present on the island, although overdevelopment and the destruction of traditional housing is of growing concern. In 2019, Malta had a record year in tourism, recording over 2.1 million tourists in one single year.
In recent years, Malta has advertised itself as a medical tourism destination, and a number of health tourism providers are developing the industry. However, no Maltese hospital has undergone independent international healthcare accreditation. Malta is popular with British medical tourists, pointing Maltese hospitals towards seeking UK-sourced accreditation, such as with the Trent Accreditation Scheme.
Tourism in Malta contributes around 11.6 percent of the country's gross domestic product.
Science and technology
Malta signed a co-operation agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) for more-intensive co-operation in ESA projects. The Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST) is the civil body responsible for the development of science and technology on an educational and social level. Most science students in Malta graduate from the University of Malta and are represented by S-Cubed (Science Student's Society), UESA (University Engineering Students Association) and ICTSA (University of Malta ICT Students' Association). Malta was ranked 29th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024.
Demographics
As of the 2021 census, Maltese-born natives make up the majority of the island with 386,280 people out of a total population of 519,562. However, there are minorities, the largest of which by birthplace were: 15,082 from the United Kingdom, Italy (13,361), India (7,946), Philippines (7,784) and Serbia (5,935). Among racial origins for the non-Maltese, 58.1% of all identified as Caucasian, 22.2% Asian, 6.3% Arab, 6.0% African, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino and 2.9% more than one race.
As of 2005[update], 17 percent were aged 14 and under, 68 percent were within the 15–64 age bracket whilst the remaining 13 percent were 65 years and over. Malta's population density of 1,282 per square km (3,322/sq mi) is by far the highest in the EU and one of the highest in the world.
The Maltese-resident population for 2004 was estimated to make up 97.0 per cent of the total resident population. All censuses since 1842 have shown a slight excess of females over males. Population growth has slowed down, from +9.5 per cent between the 1985 and 1995 censuses, to +6.9 per cent between the 1995 and 2005 censuses (a yearly average of +0.7 per cent). The birth rate stood at 3860 (a decrease of 21.8 per cent from the 1995 census) and the death rate stood at 3025. Thus, there was a natural population increase of 835 (compared to +888 for 2004, of which over a hundred were foreign residents). The population's age composition is similar to the age structure prevalent in the EU. Malta's old-age-dependency-ratio rose from 17.2 percent in 1995 to 19.8 percent in 2005, reasonably lower than the EU's 24.9 percent average; 31.5 percent of the Maltese population is aged under 25 (compared to the EU's 29.1 percent); but the 50–64 age group constitutes 20.3 percent of the population, significantly higher than the EU's 17.9 percent. Malta's old-age-dependency-ratio is expected to continue rising steadily in the coming years.
In 2021, the population of the Maltese Islands stood at 519,562.
The total fertility rate (TFR) as of 2016[update] was estimated at 1.45 children born/woman, which is below the replacement rate of 2.1. In 2012, 25.8 per cent of births were to unmarried women. The life expectancy in 2018 was estimated at 83.
Languages
The Maltese language (Maltese: Malti) is one of the two constitutional languages of Malta and is considered the national language. The second official language is English and hence laws are enacted both in Maltese and English. However, article 74 of the Constitution states that "if there is any conflict between the Maltese and the English texts of any law, the Maltese text shall prevail." Many speakers of English use a local dialect, Maltese English.
Maltese is a Semitic language descended from the now extinct Sicilian-Arabic (Siculo-Arabic) dialect (from southern Italy) that developed during the Emirate of Sicily. The Maltese alphabet consists of 30 letters based on the Latin alphabet.
In 2022, Malta National Statistics Office states that 90 percent of the Maltese population has at least a basic knowledge of Maltese, 96 percent of English, 62 percent of Italian, and 20 percent of French. This widespread knowledge of second languages makes Malta one of the most multilingual countries in the European Union. A study collecting public opinion on what language was "preferred" discovered that 86 percent of the population preferred Maltese, 12 percent English, and 2 percent Italian. Italian television channels from Italy-based broadcasters, such as Mediaset and RAI, reach Malta and remain popular.
Maltese Sign Language is used by signers in Malta.
Religion
Religion in Malta (2021 census)
The predominant religion in Malta is Roman Catholicism. The second article of the Constitution of Malta establishes Roman Catholicism as the state religion and it is also reflected in various elements of Maltese culture, although there are entrenched provisions for the freedom of religion. There are more than 360 churches in Malta, Gozo, and Comino, or one church for every 1,000 residents. The parish church (Maltese: "il-parroċċa", or "il-knisja parrokkjali") is the architectural and geographic focal point of every Maltese town and village.
Malta is an Apostolic See; the Acts of the Apostles (Acts 28) tells of how St. Paul was shipwrecked on the island of "Melite", which many Biblical scholars identify with Malta, an episode dated around AD 60. The first Maltese saint, Saint Publius is said to have been made Malta's first bishop. Further evidence of Christian practices and beliefs during the period of Roman persecution appears in catacombs that lie beneath various sites around Malta, including St. Paul's Catacombs. There are also a number of cave churches, including the grotto at Mellieħa, which is a Shrine of the Nativity of Our Lady where, according to legend, St. Luke painted a picture of the Virgin Mary. It has been a place of pilgrimage since the medieval period.
For centuries, the Church in Malta was subordinate to the Diocese of Palermo, except when it was under Charles of Anjou, who appointed bishops for Malta, as did – on rare occasions – the Spanish and later, the Knights. Since 1808 all bishops of Malta have been Maltese. The patron saints of Malta are Saint Paul, Saint Publius, and Saint Agatha. Although not a patron saint, St George Preca (San Ġorġ Preca) is greatly revered as the second canonised Maltese saint after St. Publius. Various Roman Catholic religious orders are present in Malta, including the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Little Sisters of the Poor.
There exists a considerable minority of Eastern Orthodox Christians in Malta, of which there are 16,457, according to the 2021 census; although the number may also include Oriental Orthodox Christians, who are not in communion with the former. There are a small number of parishes belonging to each autocephalous Church, typically one for each. There are Greek, Russian, Serbian, Romanian, and Bulgarian Orthodox parishes located around Malta.
Most congregants of the local Protestant churches are not Maltese; their congregations mainly draw on vacationers and British retirees living in the country. There are also a Seventh-day Adventist church in Birkirkara, and a New Apostolic Church congregation founded in 1983 in Gwardamangia. There are approximately 600 Jehovah's Witnesses.Mormonism is also represented with 241 members in 1 congregation in Mosta.
The Jewish population of Malta reached its peak in the Middle Ages under Norman rule. In 1479, Malta and Sicily came under Aragonese rule and the Alhambra Decree of 1492 forced all Jews to leave the country. Today, there are two Jewish congregations. In 2019 the Jewish community in Malta gathered around 150 persons, slightly more than the 120 (of which 80 were active) estimated in 2003, and mostly elderly. Many among the newer generations decided to settle abroad, including in England and Israel. Most contemporary Maltese Jews are Sephardi, however, an Ashkenazi prayer book is used. In 2013 the Chabad Jewish Centre in Malta was founded.
There is one purpose-built Muslim mosque, the Mariam Al-Batool Mosque, although there are also a few improvised mosques located in Muslim homes spread around the island. Of the estimated 3,000 Muslims in Malta, approximately 2,250 are foreigners, approximately 600 are naturalised citizens, and approximately 150 are native-born Maltese.Zen Buddhism and the Baháʼí Faith claim some 40 members.
In a survey held by Malta Today, the overwhelming majority of the Maltese population adheres to Christianity (95.2%) with Roman Catholicism as the main denomination (93.9%); 4.5% of the population declared themselves either atheist or agnostic, one of the lowest figures in Europe. According to a 2019 Eurobarometer survey, 83% of the population identified as Roman Catholic. The number of atheists has doubled from 2014 to 2018. Non-religious people have a higher risk of suffering from discrimination. In the 2015 edition of the annual Freedom of Thought Report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union, Malta was in the category of "severe discrimination". In 2016, following the abolishment of blasphemy law, Malta was shifted to the category of "systematic discrimination" (same as most EU countries).
Migration
| Foreign population in Malta | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Population | % total | |||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | 12,112 | 3.0% | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | 20,289 | 4.9% | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | 98,918 | 21.0% | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 119,261 | 23.17% | |||||||||||||||||
Historically a land of emigration, since the early 21st century Malta has seen a significant increase in net migration; the foreign-born population has grown nearly eightfold between 2005 and 2020. Most of the foreign community in Malta consists of active or retired British nationals and their dependents, centred on Sliema and surrounding suburbs. Other smaller foreign groups include Italians, Libyans, and Serbians, many of whom have assimilated into the Maltese nation over the decades.
Malta is also home to a large number of foreign workers who migrated to the island for economic opportunity. This migration was driven predominantly in the early 21st century, when the Maltese economy was steadily booming yet the cost and quality of living on the island remained relatively stable. In recent years however the local Maltese housing index has doubled pushing property and rental prices to very high and almost unaffordable levels. Consequently, some expats in Malta have seen their relative financial fortunes decline, with others relocating to other European countries altogether.
Since the late 20th century, Malta has become a transit country for migration routes from Africa towards Europe. As a member of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement, Malta is bound by the Dublin Regulation to process all claims for asylum by those asylum seekers that enter EU territory for the first time in Malta. However, irregular migrants who land in Malta are subject to a compulsory detention policy, being held in several camps organised by the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM), including those near Ħal Far and Ħal Safi. The compulsory detention policy has been denounced by several NGOs, and in July 2010, the European Court of Human Rights found that Malta's detention of migrants was arbitrary, lacking in adequate procedures to challenge detention, and in breach of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights. On 8 September 2020, Amnesty International criticised Malta for "illegal tactics" in the Mediterranean, against immigrants who were attempting to cross from North Africa. The reports claimed that the government's approach might have led to avoidable deaths.
In January 2014, Malta started granting citizenship for a €650,000 contribution plus investments, contingent on residence and criminal background checks. This "golden passport" citizenship scheme has been criticized as a fraudulent act by the Maltese Government.[clarification needed] Concerns as to whether the Maltese citizenship scheme is allowing an influx of such individuals into the greater European Union have been raised by both the public as well as the European Council on multiple occasions.
In the 19th century, most emigration from Malta was to North Africa and the Middle East, although rates of return migration to Malta were high. In the 20th century, most emigrants went to destinations in the New World, particularly to Australia, Canada, and the United States. Post Second World War, Malta's Emigration Department would assist emigrants with the cost of their travel. Between 1948 and 1967, 30 percent of the population emigrated. Between 1946 and the late-1970s, over 140,000 people left Malta on the assisted passage scheme, with 57.6% migrating to Australia, 22% to the UK, 13% to Canada and 7% to the United States. Emigration dropped dramatically after the mid-1970s and has since ceased to be a social phenomenon of significance. However, since Malta joined the EU in 2004 expatriate communities emerged in a number of European countries, particularly in Belgium and Luxembourg.
Education
Primary schooling has been compulsory since 1946; secondary education up to the age of sixteen was made compulsory in 1971. The state and the Church provide education free of charge, both running a number of schools in Malta and Gozo. As of 2006[update], state schools are organised into networks known as Colleges and incorporate kindergarten schools, primary and secondary schools. A number of private schools are run in Malta. St. Catherine's High School, Pembroke offers an International Foundation Course for students wishing to learn English before entering mainstream education. As of 2008[update], there are two international schools, Verdala International School and QSI Malta. The state pays a portion of the teachers' salary in Church schools.
Education in Malta is based on the British model. Primary school lasts six years. Pupils sit for SEC O-level examinations at the age of 16, with passes obligatory in mathematics, a minimum of one science subject, English and Maltese. Pupils may opt to continue studying at a sixth form college for two years, at the end of which students sit for the matriculation examination. Subject to their performance, students may then apply for an undergraduate degree or diploma.
The adult literacy rate is 99.5 per cent.
Maltese and English are both used to teach pupils at the primary and secondary school level, and both languages are also compulsory subjects. Public schools tend to use both Maltese and English in a balanced manner. Private schools prefer to use English for teaching, as is also the case with most departments of the University of Malta; this has a limiting effect on the capacity and development of the Maltese language. Most university courses are in English. The based in Malta teaches exclusively in English.
Of the total number of pupils studying a first foreign language at secondary level, 51 per cent take Italian whilst 38 per cent take French. Other choices include German, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Chinese and Arabic.
Malta is also a popular destination to study the English language, attracting over 83,000 students in 2019.
Infrastructure
Transport
Owing to the British colonial rule, traffic in Malta drives on the left. Car ownership in Malta is exceedingly high, considering the very small size of the islands; it is the fourth-highest in the European Union. There were 182,254 registered cars in 1990, giving an automobile density of 577/km2 (1,494/sq mi). Malta has 2,254 kilometres (1,401 miles) of road, 1,972 km (1,225 mi) (87.5 per cent) of which are paved (as of December 2003).
Buses (xarabank or karozza tal-linja) are the primary method of public transport, established in 1905. Malta's vintage buses operated in the Maltese islands up to 2011 and became popular tourist attractions. To this day they are depicted on many Maltese advertisements and merchandise for tourists.
The bus service underwent extensive reform in July 2011. The management structure changed from having self-employed drivers driving their own vehicles to a service being offered by a single company through a public tender. The public tender was won by Arriva Malta, which introduced a fleet of brand new buses, built by King Long especially for service by Arriva Malta and including a smaller fleet of articulated buses brought in from Arriva London. It also operated two smaller buses for an intra-Valletta route only and 61 nine-metre buses, which were used to ease congestion on high-density routes. Overall Arriva Malta operated 264 buses. On 1 January 2014 Arriva ceased operations in Malta due to financial difficulties, having been nationalised as Malta Public Transport. The government chose Autobuses Urbanos de León (Alsa subsidiary) as its preferred bus operator for the country in October 2014. From October 2022, the bus system is free of charge for residents of Malta.
As of 2021, an underground Malta Metro is being planned, with a projected total cost of €6.2 billion.
Malta has three large natural harbours on its main island:
- The Grand Harbour (or Port il-Kbir), located at the eastern side of the capital city of Valletta, has been a harbour since Roman times. It has several extensive docks and wharves, as well as a cruise liner terminal. A terminal at the Grand Harbour serves ferries that connect Malta to Pozzallo & Catania in Sicily.
- Marsamxett Harbour, located on the western side of Valletta, accommodates a number of yacht marinas.
- Marsaxlokk Harbour (Malta Freeport), at Birżebbuġa on the south-eastern side of Malta, is the islands' main cargo terminal. Malta Freeport is the 11th busiest container ports in continent of Europe and 46th in the World with a trade volume of 2.3 million TEU's in 2008.
There are also two human-made harbours that serve a passenger and car ferry service that connects Ċirkewwa Harbour on Malta and Mġarr Harbour on Gozo.
Malta International Airport (Ajruport Internazzjonali ta' Malta) is the only airport serving the Maltese islands. It is built on the land formerly occupied by the RAF Luqa air base. A heliport is also located there. The heliport in Gozo is at Xewkija. A former airfield at Ta' Qali houses a national park, stadium, the Crafts Village visitor attraction and the Malta Aviation Museum.
From 1 April 1974 to 30 March 2024, the national airline was Air Malta, which was based at Malta International Airport and operated services to 22 destinations in Europe and North Africa. The owners of Air Malta were the Government of Malta (98 percent) and private investors (2 percent).
On 31 March 2024, KM Malta Airlines took over as the national airline of Malta. All former Air Malta Airplanes and other assets were transferred to the new airline, together with the staff. KM Malta Airlines is based at Malta International Airport and operates services to 18 destinations in Europe.
In June 2019, Ryanair has invested into a fully-fledged airline subsidiary, called Malta Air, operating a low-cost model. The Government of Malta holds one share in the airline.
Communications
The mobile penetration rate in Malta exceeded 100% by the end of 2009. Malta uses the GSM900, UMTS(3G) and LTE(4G) mobile phone systems, which are compatible with the rest of the European countries, Australia and New Zealand.[citation needed]
In early 2012, the government called for a national Fibre to the Home (FttH) network to be built, with a minimum broadband service being upgraded from 4 Mbit/s to 100 Mbit/s.
Power Generation
Malta relied on coal till 1996 for electricity generation. In 1992, a new power station was built on the Delimara peninsula in Marsaxlokk. Originally the Delimara Power Station in 2015 used oil for electricity generation, before being converted to LNG in 2017. The power station also includes two gasoil-fired plants, which are used as standby power generation capacity during emergencies or lack of other power sources. Since 2015, the Malta–Sicily interconnector allows Malta to be connected to the European power grid and import a significant share of its electricity.
Healthcare
Malta has a long history of providing publicly funded health care. The first hospital recorded in the country was already functioning by 1372. Today, Malta has both a public healthcare system, where healthcare is free at the point of delivery, and a private healthcare system. Malta has a strong general practitioner-delivered primary care base and the public hospitals provide secondary and tertiary care. The Maltese Ministry of Health advises foreign residents to take out private medical insurance.
Malta also boasts voluntary organisations such as Alpha Medical (Advanced Care), the Emergency Fire & Rescue Unit (E.F.R.U.), St John Ambulance and Red Cross Malta who provide first aid/nursing services during events involving crowds, Malta's primary hospital, opened in 2007. It has one of the largest medical buildings in Europe.
The University of Malta has a medical school and a Faculty of Health Sciences. The Medical Association of Malta represents practitioners of the medical profession. The Foundation Programme followed in the UK has been introduced in Malta to stem the 'brain drain' of newly graduated physicians to the British Isles.
Culture
The culture of Malta reflects the various cultures, that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries.
Music
While Maltese music today is largely Western, traditional Maltese music includes what is known as għana. This consists of background folk guitar music, while a few people, generally men, take it in turns to argue a point in a sing-song voice. Music plays an important part in Maltese culture as each locality parades its own band club, on various occasions these being multiple per locality, and function to establish the thematic musical background to the various village feasts. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra is recognised as Malta's foremost musical institution and is notable for being called to participate in important state events.
Contemporary music in Malta spans a variety of styles and sports international classical talents such as Miriam Gauci and Joseph Calleja, as well as non-classical music bands such as Winter Moods, and Red Electric, and singers like Ira Losco, Fabrizio Faniello, Glen Vella, Kevin Borg, Kurt Calleja, Chiara Siracusa, and Thea Garrett.
Literature
Documented Maltese literature is over 200 years old. However, a recently unearthed love ballad testifies to literary activity in the local tongue from the Medieval period. Malta followed a Romantic literary tradition, culminating in the works of Dun Karm Psaila, Malta's national poet. Subsequent writers like Ruzar Briffa and Karmenu Vassallo tried to estrange themselves from the rigidity of formal themes and versification.
The next generation of writers, including Karl Schembri and Immanuel Mifsud, widened the tracks further, especially in prose and poetry.
Architecture
Maltese architecture has been influenced by many different Mediterranean cultures and British architecture over its history. The first settlers on the island constructed Ġgantija, one of the oldest manmade freestanding structures in the world. The Neolithic temple builders (3800–2500 BC) endowed the numerous temples of Malta and Gozo with intricate bas-relief designs.
The Roman period introduced highly decorative mosaic floors, marble colonnades, and classical statuary, remnants of which are beautifully preserved and presented in the Roman Domus, a country villa just outside the walls of Mdina. The early Christian frescoes that decorate the catacombs beneath Malta reveal a propensity for eastern, Byzantine tastes. These tastes continued to inform the endeavours of medieval Maltese artists, but they were increasingly influenced by the Romanesque and Southern Gothic movements.
Art
Towards the end of the 15th century, Maltese artists, like their counterparts in Sicily, came under the influence of the School of Antonello da Messina, which introduced Renaissance ideals and concepts to the decorative arts in Malta.
The artistic heritage of Malta blossomed under the Knights of St. John, who brought Italian and Flemish Mannerist painters to decorate their palaces and the churches of these islands, most notably, Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, whose works appear in the Magisterial Palace and in the Conventual Church of St. John in Valletta, and Filippo Paladini, who was active in Malta from 1590 to 1595. For many years, Mannerism continued to inform the tastes and ideals of local Maltese artists.
The arrival in Malta of Caravaggio, who painted at least seven works during his 15-month stay on these islands, further revolutionised local art. Two of Caravaggio's most notable works, The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome Writing, are on display in the Conventual Church of St. John. His legacy is evident in the works of local artists Giulio Cassarino and Stefano Erardi. However, the Baroque movement that followed was destined to have the most enduring impact on Maltese art and architecture. The vault paintings of the Calabrese artist Mattia Preti transformed the Conventual Church St. John into a Baroque masterpiece. Melchior Gafà emerged as one of the top Baroque sculptors of the Roman School.
During the 17th and 18th century, Neapolitan and Rococo influences emerged in the works of the Italian painters Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena, and these developments can be seen in the work of their Maltese contemporaries such as Gio Nicola Buhagiar and Francesco Zahra. The Rococo movement was greatly enhanced by the relocation to Malta of Antoine de Favray, who assumed the position of court painter to Grand Master Pinto in 1744.
Neo-classicism made some inroads among local Maltese artists in the late-18th century, but this trend was reversed in the early 19th century, as the local Church authorities – perhaps in an effort to strengthen Catholic resolve against the perceived threat of Protestantism during the early days of British rule in Malta – favoured and avidly promoted the religious themes embraced by the Nazarene movement. Romanticism, tempered by the naturalism introduced to Malta by Giuseppe Calì, informed the "salon" artists of the early 20th century, including Edward and Robert Caruana Dingli.
Parliament established the National School of Art in the 1920s. During the reconstruction period that followed the Second World War, the emergence of the "Modern Art Group", whose members included Josef Kalleya, George Preca, Anton Inglott, Emvin Cremona, Frank Portelli, Antoine Camilleri, Gabriel Caruana and Esprit Barthet greatly enhanced the local art scene. This group came together forming an influential pressure group known as the Modern Art Group, which played a leading role in the renewal of Maltese art. Most of Malta's modern artists have in fact studied in Art institutions in England, or on the continent, leading to a diversity of artistic expression that has remained characteristic of contemporary Maltese art. In Valletta, the National Museum of Fine Arts featured work from artists such as H. Craig Hanna. In 2018 the national collection of fine arts was put on display in the new National Museum of Art, MUŻA, at Auberge d'Italie in Valletta.
Cuisine
Maltese cuisine shows strong Sicilian and Italian influences as well as influences of English, Spanish, Maghrebin and Provençal cuisines. A number of regional variations can be noted as well as seasonal variations associated with the seasonal availability of produce and Christian feasts (such as Lent, Easter and Christmas). Food has been important historically in the development of a national identity in particular the traditional fenkata (i.e., the eating of stewed or fried rabbit). Potatoes are a staple of the Maltese diet as well.
A number of grapes are endemic to Malta, including Girgentina and Ġellewża. There is a strong wine industry, with significant production of wines using these native grapes, as well as locally grown grapes of other more common varietals. A number of wines have achieved Protected Designation of Origin, with wines produced from grapes cultivated in Malta and Gozo designated as "DOK" wines, that is Denominazzjoni ta' l-Oriġini Kontrollata.
Customs
A 2010 Charities Aid Foundation study found that the Maltese were the most generous people in the world, with 83% contributing to charity.
Maltese folktales include various stories about mysterious creatures and supernatural events. These were most comprehensively compiled by the scholar (and pioneer in Maltese archaeology) Manwel Magri in his core criticism "Ħrejjef Missirijietna" ("Fables from our Forefathers"). This collection of material inspired subsequent researchers and academics to gather traditional tales, fables and legends from all over the Archipelago. While giants, witches, and dragons feature in many of the stories, some contain entirely Maltese creatures like the Kaw kaw, Il-Belliegħa and L-Imħalla among others.
Traditions
Traditional Maltese proverbs reveal cultural importance of childbearing and fertility: "iż-żwieġ mingħajr tarbija ma fihx tgawdija" (a childless marriage cannot be a happy one). This is a belief that Malta shares with many other Mediterranean cultures. In Maltese folktales the local variant of the classic closing formula, "and they all lived happily ever after" is "u għammru u tgħammru, u spiċċat" (and they lived together, and they had children together, and the tale is finished).
Rural Malta shares in common with the Mediterranean society a number of superstitions regarding fertility, menstruation, and pregnancy, including the avoidance of cemeteries leading up to childbirth, and avoiding the preparation of certain foods during menses. Pregnant women are encouraged to satisfy their food cravings, out of fear that their unborn child will bear a representational birth mark (Maltese: xewqa, literally "desire" or "craving"). Maltese and Sicilian women also share certain traditions that are believed to predict the sex of an unborn child.[citation needed]
Traditionally, Maltese newborns were baptised as promptly as possible. Traditional Maltese delicacies served at a baptismal feast include biskuttini tal-magħmudija (almond macaroons), it-torta tal-marmorata (a spicy, heart-shaped tart of chocolate-flavoured almond paste), and a liqueur known as rożolin, made with rose petals, violets, and almonds.[citation needed]
On a child's first birthday, in a tradition that still survives today, Maltese parents would organise a game known as il-quċċija, where a variety of symbolic objects would be randomly placed around the child. Whichever object the child shows the most interest in is said to reveal the child's path and fortunes in adulthood.
Traditional Maltese weddings featured the bridal party walking in procession beneath an ornate canopy, from the home of the bride's family to the parish church, with singers trailing behind (il-ġilwa). New wives would wear the għonnella, a traditional item of Maltese clothing. Today's couples are married in churches or chapels in the village or town of their choice, usually followed by a lavish wedding reception. Occasionally, couples will try to incorporate elements of the traditional Maltese wedding in their celebration. A resurgent interest in the traditional wedding was evident in May 2007, when thousands of Maltese and tourists attended a traditional Maltese wedding in the style of the 16th century, in Żurrieq.[citation needed]
Festivals and events
Local festivals, similar to those in Southern Italy, are commonplace in Malta and Gozo, celebrating weddings, christenings and, most prominently, saints' days. On saints' days, in the morning, the festa reaches its apex with a High Mass featuring a sermon on the life and achievements of the patron saint. In the evening, a statue of the religious patron is taken around the local streets in solemn procession, with the faithful following in prayer. The atmosphere of religious devotion is preceded by several days of celebration and revelry: band marches, fireworks, and late-night parties. The largest festa is possibly that of the Assumption of Mary, which is celebrated in 8 parishes on the 15 August and in 2 other parishes the following Sunday.
Carnival (Maltese: il-karnival ta' Malta) has had an important place on the cultural calendar after Grand Master It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday, and typically includes masked balls, fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions, lavish late-night parties, a colourful, ticker-tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival (Maltese: ir-Re tal-Karnival), marching bands and costumed revellers.
Holy Week (Maltese: il-Ġimgħa Mqaddsa) starts on Palm Sunday (Ħadd il-Palm) and ends on Easter Sunday (Ħadd il-Għid).
Mnarja, or l-Imnarja (pronounced lim-nar-ya) is one of the most important dates on the Maltese cultural calendar. Officially, it is a national festival dedicated to the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Its roots can be traced back to the pagan Roman feast of Luminaria (literally, "the illumination"), when torches and bonfires lit up the early summer night of 29 June. The festivities still commence today with the reading of the "bandu", an official governmental announcement, which has been read on this day in Malta since the 16th century. It is said that under the Knights, this was the one day in the year when the Maltese were allowed to hunt and eat wild rabbit, which was otherwise reserved for the hunting pleasures of the Knights. The close connection between Mnarja and rabbit stew (Maltese: "fenkata") remains strong today.
Isle of MTV is a one-day music festival produced and broadcast on an annual basis by MTV. The festival has been arranged annually in Malta since 2007, with major pop artists performing each year. 2012 saw the performances of worldwide acclaimed artists Flo Rida, Nelly Furtado and Will.i.am. Over 50,000 people attended, which marked the biggest attendance so far.
The Malta International Fireworks Festival has been arranged annually in the Grand Harbour of Valletta since 2003.
Media
The most widely read and financially the strongest newspapers are published by Allied Newspapers Ltd., mainly The Times of Malta (27 percent) and its Sunday edition The Sunday Times of Malta (51.6 percent).[citation needed] Due to bilingualism half of the newspapers are published in English and the other half in Maltese. The Sunday newspaper It-Torċa ("The Torch") published by a subsidiary of the General Workers' Union, is the widest Maltese language paper. Its sister paper, L-Orizzont ("The Horizon"), is the Maltese daily with the biggest circulation. There is a high number of daily or weekly newspapers—one for every 28,000 people. Advertising, sales, and subsidies are the three main methods of financing.
There are nine terrestrial television channels in Malta: TVM, TVMNews+, Parliament TV, One, NET Television, Smash Television, , and Xejk. The state and political parties subsidise most of the funding of these channels. TVM, TVMNews+, and Parliament TV are operated by Public Broadcasting Services, the national broadcaster, and members of the EBU. Media.link Communications Ltd., the owner of NET Television, and One Productions Ltd., the owner of One, are affiliated with the Nationalist and Labour parties, respectively. The rest are privately owned. The Malta Broadcasting Authority has authority to supervise all local broadcasting stations and ensures their compliance with legal and licence obligations as well as the preservation of due impartiality.
The Malta Communications Authority reported that there were 147,896 pay TV subscriptions active at the end of 2012. For reference the 2011 census counts 139,583 households in Malta. Satellite reception is available to receive other European television networks.
Sport
Football (soccer) is one of the most popular sports in Malta. Other popular sports include boċċi, horse racing, gostra, regatta, water polo, clay pigeon shooting, and motorsports.
In 2018 Malta hosted its first Esports tournament, 'Supernova CS:GO Malta', a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament. Also since 2018, Malta has become the primary location for hosting the ESL Pro League.
See also
- Outline of Malta
- Index of Malta-related articles
Notes
- 2021 census. Chapter 4: Racial origin
References
Citations
- "Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta' Malta" (PDF) (in Maltese). 3 September 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved 22 January 2021.
- "Language - VisitMalta". VisitMalta. Archived from the original on 1 October 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2024.
- "Maltese sign language to be recognised as an official language of Malta". The Malta Independent. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
- "Census of Population and Housing 2021: Final Report: Population, migration and other social characteristics (Volume 1)". nso.gov.mt. 16 February 2023. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- "Census of Population and Housing 2021 Final report: Religious Affiliation, pages 159-168" (PDF). nso.gov.mt. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- "90% Caucasian, 83% Roman Catholic: Malta census statistics released". Times of Malta. 16 February 2023. Archived from the original on 22 February 2023. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
- Zammit, Andre (1986). "Valletta and the system of human settlements in the Maltese Islands". Ekistics. 53 (316/317): 89–95. JSTOR 43620704.
- "Population and migration: 2012-2022(including intercensal revisions)". nso.gov.mt. July 2022. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- "Report for Selected Countries and Subjects: April 2024 (Malta)". imf.org. International Monetary Fund.
- "Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income – EU-SILC survey".
- "Human Development Report 2023/24" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 13 March 2024.
- "Census of Population and Housing 2021 - Volume 1 - Final Report" (PDF). nso.gov.mt. 2023. p. 116. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 June 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2023.
- Lesley, Anne Rose (15 April 2009). Frommer's Malta and Gozo Day by Day. John Wiley & Sons. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-470-74610-3.
- (Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta [rɛˈpʊbːlɪkɐ tɐ ˈmɐːltɐ])
- Ashby, Thomas (1915). "Roman Malta". Journal of Roman Studies. 5: 23–80. doi:10.2307/296290. JSTOR 296290. S2CID 250349579. Archived from the original on 27 March 2021. Retrieved 30 August 2019.
- Bonanno, Anthony, ed. (2008). Malta and Sicily: Miscellaneous research projects (PDF). Officina di Studi Medievali. ISBN 978-88-88615-83-7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 May 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
- Chapman, David; Cassar, Godwin (October 2004). "Valletta". Cities. 21 (5): 451–463. doi:10.1016/j.cities.2004.07.001. ISSN 0264-2751.
- Simone, Beppe (24 January 2018). "Valletta begins its journey as European Capital of Culture 2018". Europa Nostra. Retrieved 6 December 2024.
- Sultana, Ronald G. (1998). "Career guidance in Malta: A Mediterranean microstate in transition" (PDF). International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling. 20: 3. doi:10.1023/A:1005386004103. S2CID 49470186. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2017.
- "The Microstate Environmental World Cup: Malta vs. San Marino". Environmentalgraffiti.com. 15 December 2007. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- "World Urbanization Prospects" Archived 25 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine – Department of Economic and Social Affairs/Population Division, United Nations (Table A.2; page 79)
- "Interim Territorial Cohesion Report" Archived 23 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine – Preliminary results of ESPON and EU Commission studies
- Terterov, Marat; Reuvid, Jonathan (2005). Doing Business with Malta. GMB Publishing. p. 167. ISBN 978-1-905050-63-5.
- Creativemalta.gov.mt, Draft National Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries – Creative Malta, archived from the original on 28 July 2013, retrieved 17 August 2013
- Flags, Symbols and their uses, Department of Information of Malta, archived from the original on 29 June 2015, retrieved 25 February 2019
- "First inhabitants arrived 700 years earlier than thought". Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 23 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2020.
- "Malta | History, Language, Map, People, & Points of Interest | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 18 July 2024. Retrieved 18 July 2024.
- Rudolf, Uwe Jens; Berg, Warren G. (2010). Historical Dictionary of Malta. Scarecrow Press. pp. 1–11. ISBN 978-0-8108-7390-2.
- Boissevain, Jeremy (1984). "Ritual Escalation in Malta". In Eric R. Wolf (ed.). Religion, Power and Protest in Local Communities: The Northern Shore of the Mediterranean. Walter de Gruyter. p. 165. ISBN 978-3-11-009777-1. ISSN 1437-5370.
- "George Cross Award Commemoration". VisitMalta.com. 14 April 2015. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
- "Should the George Cross still be on Malta's flag?". Times of Malta. 29 April 2012. Archived from the original on 27 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
- "Christmas Broadcast 1967". Archived from the original on 2 May 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
- European Commission (June 2012). Special Eurobarometer 386: Europeans and Their Languages (PDF) (Report). Eurobarometer Special Surveys. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2016. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
- "Malta Skills Survey 2022 - Preliminary Report" (PDF). nso.gov.mt. Malta National Statistics Office. 15 June 2023. p. 40. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 June 2023. Retrieved 20 June 2023.
- "Constitution of Malta". Ministry for Justice, Culture and Local Government. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 10 February 2018. – Article 40: "all persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship."
- "Malta". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 2 April 2021. Retrieved 16 May 2007.
- "Hal Saflieni Hypogeum". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 30 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- "City of Valletta". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- "Megalithic Temples of Malta". UNESCO. Archived from the original on 7 January 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2014.
- "Malta Temples and The OTS Foundation". OTSF. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- Cilia, Daniel (2004). Malta Before History. Miranda Publishers. ISBN 99909-85-08-1.
- Vassallo, DJ (1992). "The Corps Disease: Brucellosis and Its Historical Association with the Royal Army Medical Corps" (PDF). Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps. 138 (3): 140–150. doi:10.1136/jramc-138-03-09. PMID 1453384. S2CID 41069698. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 24 December 2017.
- Melita. Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short. A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project.
- μέλι. Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; A Greek–English Lexicon at the Perseus Project.
- Castillo, Dennis Angelo (2006). The Maltese Cross: A Strategic History of Malta. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 978-0-313-32329-4.
- Pickles, Tim (1998). Malta 1565: Last Battle of the Crusades. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-603-3.
- "Renaming Malta the Republic of Phoenicia". The Times of Malta. October 2011. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2016.
- Vella, John (January 2023), "Greek Words in Maltese Harbour Toponymy" (PDF), Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies, vol. 9, pp. 25–52, archived (PDF) from the original on 18 April 2024, retrieved 7 April 2024.
- Oxford English Dictionary, s.v. "Malta, n.", and "Maltese, n. & adj."
- Smith, William (1872). John Murray (ed.). A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography. Vol. II. John Murray. p. 320.
- "700 years added to Malta's history". Times of Malta. 16 March 2018. Archived from the original on 11 January 2023. Retrieved 11 January 2023.
- Ariano, Bruno; Mattiangeli, Valeria; Breslin, Emily M.; Parkinson, Eóin W.; McLaughlin, T. Rowan; Thompson, Jess E.; Power, Ronika K.; Stock, Jay T.; Mercieca-Spiteri, Bernardette; Stoddart, Simon; Malone, Caroline (20 June 2022). "Ancient Maltese genomes and the genetic geography of Neolithic Europe". Current Biology. 32 (12): 2668–2680.e6. Bibcode:2022CBio...32E2668A. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.069. PMC 9245899. PMID 35588742.
- A. Mifsud; C. Savona-Ventura; S. Mifsud. "Palaeolithic Man in the Maltese Islands". Archived from the original on 17 January 1999. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - Skeates, Robin (2010). An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta. Oxford University Press. pp. 124–132. ISBN 978-0-19-921660-4.
- "History". Maltese Italian Chamber of Commerce. Archived from the original on 8 October 2021. Retrieved 8 October 2021.
- "Old Temples Study Foundation". OTSF. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- Sheehan, Sean (2000). Malta. Marshall Cavendish. ISBN 978-0-7614-0993-9.
- "Archaeology and prehistory". Aberystwyth, The University of Wales. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2009.
- "National Museum of Archaeology". Visitmalta.com. Archived from the original on 29 March 2010.
- "Ancient mystery solved by geographers". Port.ac.uk. 20 April 2009. Archived from the original on 29 December 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
- Mottershead, Derek; Pearson, Alastair; Schaefer, Martin (2008). "The cart ruts of Malta: an applied geomorphology approach". Antiquity. 82 (318): 1065–1079. doi:10.1017/S0003598X00097787. S2CID 162827926.
- Cilia, Daniel. "Malta Before Common Era". The Megalithic Temples of Malta. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2007.
- Piccolo, Salvatore; Darvill, Timothy (2013). Ancient Stones, The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily. Brazen Head Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9565106-2-4.
- "Notable dates in Malta's history". Department of Information – Maltese Government. 6 February 2008. Archived from the original on 25 November 2009. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
- Culican (1992).
- Filigheddu (2006).
- Owen, Charles (1969). The Maltese Islands. Praeger.
- Terterov, Marat (2005). Doing Business with Malta. GMB Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-905050-63-5.
- "Malta". Enciclopedia Italiana (in Italian). Archived from the original on 1 January 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- The Art Journal: The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industry of All Nations. Vol. 2. Virtue. 1853. p. vii.
- "Volume 16, Issue 1". Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
- Cassar 2000, pp. 56–57
- "218 BC – 395 AD Roman Coinage". Bank of Malta. Archived from the original on 26 January 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
- "Acts, chapter 28, verse 1". Perseus.tufts.edu. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 20 February 2021.
- Brown, Thomas S. (1991). "Malta". In Kazhdan, Alexander (ed.). Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium. Oxford University Press. p. 1277. ISBN 978-0-19-504652-6.
- Edwards, I. E. S.; Gadd, C. J.; Hammond, N. G. L. (1975). The Cambridge Ancient History. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-08691-2.
- Troll, Christian W.; Hewer, C.T.R. (12 September 2012). "Journeying toward God". Christian Lives Given to the Study of Islam. Fordham University Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-8232-4319-8.
- "Brief history of Sicily" (PDF). Archaeology.Stanford.edu. 7 October 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 January 2012. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- Travel Malta. MobileReference. The Arab period and the Middle Ages. ISBN 978-1-61198-279-4.
- Brincat, Joseph M. (1995). Malta 870-1054: Al-Himyari's account and its linguistic implications (PDF). Said International. p. 21. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2021.
- Wilson, Andrew (2006). Corpus Linguistics Around the World. Rodopi. ISBN 978-90-420-1836-5.
- Previté-Orton (1971), pg. 507–11
- Blouet, B. (1987) The Story of Malta. Third Edition. Progress Press, p.37.
- Blouet, B. (1987) The Story of Malta. Third Edition. Malta: Progress Press, p.37-38.
- Martin, Robert Montgomery (1843). History of the colonies of the British Empire. W. H. Allen. p. 569.
Malta remained for 72 years subject of the emperors of Germany. The island was after the period of Count Roger of the Normans afterward given up to the Germans, on account of the marriage between Constance, heiress of Sicily, and Henry VI, son of the Emperor Friedrick Barbarossa. Malta was elevated to a county and a marquisate, but its trade was now totally ruined, and for a considerable period of it remained solely a fortified garrison.
- "Time-Line". AboutMalta.com. 7 October 2007. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2008.
- Goodwin, Stefan (2002). Malta, Mediterranean bridge. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 31. ISBN 0-89789-820-6..
- Peregin, Christian (4 August 2008). "Maltese makeover". The Times of Malta. Archived from the original on 9 October 2010. Retrieved 28 November 2009.
- Malta under the Angevins Archived 17 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine. melitensiawth.com
- "Superintendance of Cultural Heritage". Government of Malta. Archived from the original on 28 January 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
- Luttrell, Anthony (1970). "The House of Aragon and Malta: 1282–1412" (PDF). Journal of the Faculty of Arts. 4 (2): 156–168. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 October 2017. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
- Denaro, Victor F. (1963). Yet More Houses in Valletta Archived 2 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Melita Historica. p. 22.
- de Vertot, Abbe (1728) The History of the Knights of Malta vol. II (facsimile reprint Midsea Books, Malta, 1989).
- "Malta History". Jimdiamondmd.com. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
- "Malta History 1000 AD–present". Carnaval.com. Archived from the original on 4 February 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2008.
- "La cesión de Malta a los Caballeros de San Juan a través de la cédula del 4 de marzo de 1530" (PDF). orderofmalta.int. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- "LA SOBERANA ORDEN DE MALTA A TRAVÉS DE DIEZ SIGLOS DE HISTORIA Y SU RELACIÓN CON LA ACCIÓN HUMANITARIA" (PDF). uma.es. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- El halcón maltés regresará a España dos siglos después Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. El Pais (14 August 2005). Retrieved 1 May 2017.
- "La verdadera historia del halcón maltés". Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- "El halcón y el mar". trofeocaza.com. 22 October 2014. Archived from the original on 30 May 2016.
- "El Rey volverá a tener otro halcón maltés en primavera". Archived from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
- "Hospitallers – religious order". Archived from the original on 1 August 2017. Retrieved 3 July 2017.
- Devrim., Atauz, Ayse (2008). Eight thousand years of Maltese maritime history: trade, piracy, and naval warfare in the central Mediterranean. University Press of Florida. ISBN 978-0-8130-3179-8.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - McManamon, John (June 2003). "Maltese seafaring in mediaeval and post-mediaeval times". Mediterranean Historical Review. 18 (1): 32–58. doi:10.1080/09518960412331302203. ISSN 0951-8967. S2CID 153559318.
- Niaz, Ilhan (2014). Old World Empires: Cultures of Power and Governance in Eurasia. Routledge. p. 399. ISBN 978-1-317-91379-5.
- Angelo Castillo, Dennis (2006). The Maltese Cross: A Strategic History of Malta. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-313-32329-4.
- Braudel, Fernand (1995) The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II, vol. II. University of California Press: Berkeley.Malta
- "Palazzo Parisio". gov.mt. Archived from the original on 6 January 2018. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- "Napoleon's bedroom at Palazzo Parisio in Valletta!". maltaweathersite.com. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- Stagno-Navarra, Karl (24 January 2010). "Leaving it in neutral". MaltaToday. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
- "This day, May 15, in Jewish history". Cleveland Jewish News. Archived from the original on 19 May 2014.
- Sciberras, Sandro. "Maltese History – F. The French Occupation" (PDF). St Benedict College. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2015. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- Weider, Ben. "Chapter 12 – The Egyptian Campaign of 1798". International Napoleonic Society. Archived from the original on 12 March 2016.
- Shosenberg, J.W. (April 2017). "NAPOLÉON'S EGYPTIAN RIDDLE". Military History. 34 (1): 25 – via Ebsco.
- Schiavone, Michael J. (2009). Dictionary of Maltese Biographies A-F. Publikazzjonijiet Indipendenza. pp. 533–534. ISBN 978-99932-91-32-9.
- Holland, James (2003). Fortress Malta An Island Under Siege 1940–43. Miramax. ISBN 978-1-4013-5186-1.
- Rudolf & Berg 2010, p. 11
- Galea, Michael (16 November 2014). "Malta earns the title 'nurse of the Mediterranean'". The Times. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016.
- "Malta definition of Malta in the Free Online Encyclopedia.". Free Online Encyclopedia – List of Legal Holidays. Archived from the original on 17 June 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- "SETTE GIUGNO". Visitmalta – The official tourism website for Malta, Gozo and Comino. Archived from the original on 30 January 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2013.
- "Independence". Archived from the original on 6 September 2012.
- Bierman, John; Smith, Colin (2002). The Battle of Alamein: Turning Point, World War II. Viking. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-670-03040-8.
- Titterton, G. A. (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean, Volume 2. Psychology Press. p. xiii. ISBN 978-0-7146-5179-8.
- Elliott, Peter (1980). The Cross and the Ensign: A Naval History of Malta, 1798–1979. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-926-9.
- Calvocoressi, Peter (1981). Top Secret Ultra – Volume 10 of Ballantine Espionage Intelligence Library (reprint ed.). Ballantine Books. pp. 42, 44. ISBN 978-0-345-30069-0.
- "The Siege of Malta in World War Two". Archived from the original on 29 December 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
- Wolf, Eric R. (1984). Religion, Power and Protest in Local Communities: The Northern Shore of the Mediterranean. Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG. p. 206. ISBN 978-3-11-086116-7.
- Fenech, Dominic (February 1997). "Malta's external security". GeoJournal. 41 (2): 153–163. Bibcode:1997GeoJo..41..153F. doi:10.1023/A:1006888926016. S2CID 151123282.
- Breacher, Michael (1997). A Study of Crisis. University of Michigan Press. p. 611. ISBN 978-0-472-10806-0.
- "1989: Malta summit ends Cold War". BBC: On This Day. 3 December 1989. Archived from the original on 3 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- "Malta votes 'yes' to EU membership". CNN. 9 March 2003. Archived from the original on 13 March 2003. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- "The History of the European Union – 2000–today". Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
- "Cyprus and Malta set to join eurozone in 2008". Euractiv. 16 May 2007. Archived from the original on 30 January 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
- Mark N. Franklin. "Electoral Participation." in Controversies in Voting Behavior
- Magri, Giulia (27 March 2024). "Parliament unanimously approves Myriam Spiteri Debono as Malta's next President". Times of Malta. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
- "Labour's meltdown risk". MaltaToday.com.mt. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
- "Malta". Transparency.org. 30 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
- Cummings, James (11 February 2025). "Malta slips to lowest ever place in international corruption index". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- "Local Council Act of Malta" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
- Protokol Lokali u Reġjonali (PDF) (in Maltese). Dipartiment tal-Informazzjoni. pp. 5–6. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 June 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
- "Malta" (PDF). Assembly of European Regions. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
- "Defence Roles". Afm.gov.mt. Archived from the original on 8 May 2019.
- AFM Operations Centre – SAR Region Archived 8 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Afm.gov.mt. Retrieved 28 December 2019
- "Armed Forces of Malta". Afm.gov.mt. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016.
- "Chapter XXVI: Disarmament – No. 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons". United Nations Treaty Collection. Archived from the original on 6 August 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- "Nuclear arms prohibition treaty ratified by foreign minister". Malta Today. 21 September 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
- "Malta ranks first in European 'rainbow map' of LGBTIQ rights". MaltaToday.com.mt. Archived from the original on 9 October 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- "UN equality head praises Malta as 'beacon of human rights for LGBTIQ issues'". The Malta Independent. 27 September 2017. Archived from the original on 29 September 2017. Retrieved 2 October 2017.
- Benjamin, Butterworth (6 December 2016). "Malta just became the first country in Europe to ban 'gay cure' therapy". Pink News. Archived from the original on 6 December 2016.
- "Equal Opportunities (Persons with Disability) Act (Cap. 413)". . Archived from the original on 18 April 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2019.
- "Malta votes 'Yes' in divorce referendum". BBC News Online. 29 May 2011. Archived from the original on 1 June 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- Parker, Jessica; Thierij, Sira (12 August 2022). "Malta: The only EU country where abortion is illegal leaves women scared". BBC News Online. Archived from the original on 2 October 2022. Retrieved 2 October 2022.
- Kevin Schembri Orland (21 November 2022). "Malta proposes bill to ease EU's strictest anti-abortion law". AP NEWS. Archived from the original on 21 November 2022. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
- "Malta to allow abortion but only when woman's life is at risk". The Guardian. 28 June 2023. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- Mannion, A.M.; Vogiatzakis, I.N. (August 2007). "Island Landscape Dynamics: Examples from the Mediterranean" (PDF). University of Reading. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 20 December 2011.
- Commission for the Geological Map of the World. "Geodynamic Map of the Mediterranean". Archived from the original on 17 December 2008. Retrieved 28 November 2008.
- "Geothermal Engineering Research Office Malta". Archived from the original on 4 April 2016.
- Falconer, William; Falconer, Thomas (1872). Dissertation on St. Paul's Voyage. BiblioLife. p. 50. ISBN 978-1-113-68809-5.
- "Where Is Malta? | World Map, Facts, People & History of Malta". Malta Info Guide. Retrieved 17 November 2024.
- Dinerstein, Eric; et al. (2017). "An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm". BioScience. 67 (6): 534–545. doi:10.1093/biosci/bix014. ISSN 0006-3568. PMC 5451287. PMID 28608869.
- "The Maltese Islands". Department of Information – Malta. Archived from the original on 3 July 2007.
- Weather of Malta Archived 25 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine – MET Office in Malta International Airport
- Ltd, Allied Newspapers (31 December 2014). "Updated – 'Snowflakes' reported in several parts of Malta – Met Office 'monitoring' situation". Archived from the original on 30 September 2017. Retrieved 30 September 2017.
- "Valletta Climate Guide". Archived from the original on 3 October 2010. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
- "Malta's Climate". maltaweather.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2015. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
- "Birżebbuġa, Malta average sea temperature". seatemperature.org. Archived from the original on 21 March 2015.
- "Valletta, Malta Travel Weather Averages". Weatherbase.com. Archived from the original on 3 April 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2015.
- "Climate Data for Luqa". National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
- "Met Office: Climate averages 1971–2000". Met Office. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2011.
- "Luqa Weather Averages 1991–2020". Meteo-climat-bzh.dyndns.org. Archived from the original on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
- "Malta's Climate". Maltaweather.com. Archived from the original on 6 August 2015. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
- "Population on 1 January by age groups and sex – functional urban areas" Archived 3 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Eurostat, 2015.
- "Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and metropolitan regions". Eurostat. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
- "Population on 1 January by age groups and sex – cities and greater cities" Archived 27 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Eurostat, 2015.
- "Population on 1 January by age groups and sex – functional urban areas". Eurostat. 2020. Archived from the original on 3 September 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- "Population on 1 January by broad age group, sex and metropolitan regions 2020". Eurostat. 2020. Archived from the original on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
- "Creativity Works – A report on Malta's Creative Economy strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries – Part 3" (PDF). Malta Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Tourism. 2012. p. 121. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
- Malta Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine – European Central Bank.
- "The Global Financial Centres" (PDF). Qatar Financial Centre. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 February 2017.
- Metropolitan areas in Europe Archived 20 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine – Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development, 2011.
- openknowledge.fao.org http://web.archive.org/web/20240728180427/https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/33a5491a-bdfd-48a5-a6aa-b79599458add/content. Archived from the original on 28 July 2024. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - Mifsud, Stephen (23 August 2002). "Wild Plants of Malta - Plant Family Index". maltawildplants.com. Retrieved 6 February 2025.
- "State of the Environment Report 2005 - Sub-report 9: Biodiversity" (PDF). Environment and Resources Authority. January 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 January 2018. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
- Mifsud, Stephen. "Wild Plants of Malta and Gozo – Main Page". Maltawildplants.com. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
- "Maltese Biodiversity under threat". The Malta Independent. 13 February 2011. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
- "IMF World Economic Outlook (WEO) – Recovery, Risk, and Rebalancing, October 2010 – Table of Contents". IMF. 6 October 2010. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- "Economy of Malta | Development and Entry to the European Union". Malta.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
- "Unprecedented growth for Malta's film industry". The Times of Malta. 21 July 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- "Country Trends". Global Footprint Network. Archived from the original on 8 August 2017. Retrieved 4 June 2020.
- Lin, David; Hanscom, Laurel; Murthy, Adeline; Galli, Alessandro; Evans, Mikel; Neill, Evan; Mancini, MariaSerena; Martindill, Jon; Medouar, FatimeZahra; Huang, Shiyu; Wackernagel, Mathis (2018). "Ecological Footprint Accounting for Countries: Updates and Results of the National Footprint Accounts, 2012–2018". Resources. 7 (3): 58. Bibcode:2018Resou...7...58L. doi:10.3390/resources7030058.
- "Malta Post". privatisation.gov.mt. Archived from the original on 17 November 2015. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- "Maltacom". privatisation.gov.mt. Archived from the original on 9 June 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
- "Malta Freeport". privatisation.gov.mt. Archived from
Malta ˈ m ɒ l t e MOL te ˈ m ɔː l t e MAWL te Maltese ˈmɐːltɐ officially the Republic of Malta is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea between Sicily and North Africa It consists of an archipelago 80 km 50 mi south of Italy 284 km 176 mi east of Tunisia and 333 km 207 mi north of Libya The two official languages are Maltese and English The country s capital is Valletta which is the smallest capital city in the EU by both area and population It was also the first World Heritage City in Europe to become a European Capital of Culture in 2018 Republic of MaltaRepubblika ta Malta Maltese Flag Coat of armsMotto Virtute et constantia Latin Strength and persistence Anthem L Innu Malti Maltese The Maltese Hymn source source track track track track track track track track track Location of Malta green circle in Europe light green amp dark grey in the European Union light green Legend CapitalValletta 35 54 N 14 31 E 35 900 N 14 517 E 35 900 14 517Largest administrative unitSt Paul s BayOfficial languagesMalteseEnglishOther languagesMaltese Sign Language ItalianEthnic groups 2021 89 1 Caucasian5 2 Asian1 7 Arab1 5 African1 3 Hispanic Latino1 2 More than one originReligion 2021 88 5 Christianity 82 6 Catholicism official 5 9 other Christian5 1 no religion3 9 Islam1 4 Hinduism1 1 otherDemonym s MalteseGovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic PresidentMyriam Spiteri Debono Prime MinisterRobert AbelaLegislatureParliament of MaltaIndependence from the United Kingdom State of Malta21 September 1964 Republic13 December 1974Area Total316 km2 122 sq mi 187th Water 0 001Population 2021 census519 562 Density1 649 km2 4 270 9 sq mi 8th GDP PPP 2024 estimate Total 36 870 billion 140th Per capita 67 682 20th GDP nominal 2024 estimate Total 22 737 billion 118th Per capita 41 738 25th Gini 2020 31 4 medium inequalityHDI 2022 0 915 very high 25th CurrencyEuro EUR Time zoneUTC 1 Central European Time Summer DST UTC 2 Central European Summer Time Calling code 356ISO 3166 codeMTInternet TLD mt b 2021 Malta census Chapter 4 Racial Origin according to the most recent national census Meanwhile 77 8 of the population were Maltese citizens or nationals Also eu shared with other European Union member states With a population of about 542 000 over an area of 316 km2 122 sq mi Malta is the world s tenth smallest country by area and the ninth most densely populated Various sources consider the country to consist of a single urban region for which it is often described as a city state Malta has been inhabited since about 5900 BC Its location in the centre of the Mediterranean has historically given it great geostrategic importance with a succession of powers having ruled the islands and shaped its culture and society These include the Phoenicians Carthaginians Greeks and Romans in antiquity the Arabs Normans and Aragonese during the Middle Ages and the Knights Hospitaller French and British in the modern era Malta came under British rule in the early 19th century and served as the headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet It was besieged by the Axis powers during World War II and was an important Allied base for North Africa and the Mediterranean Malta achieved independence in 1964 and established its current parliamentary republic in 1974 It has been a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations and the United Nations since independence it joined the European Union in 2004 and the eurozone monetary union in 2008 Malta s long history of foreign rule and its proximity to both Europe and North Africa have influenced its art music cuisine and architecture Malta has close historical and cultural ties to Italy and especially Sicily between 62 and 66 percent of Maltese people speak or have significant knowledge of the Italian language which had official status from 1530 to 1934 Malta was an early centre of Christianity and Roman Catholicism is the state religion although the country s constitution guarantees freedom of conscience and religious worship Malta is a developed country with an advanced high income economy It is heavily reliant on tourism attracting both travellers and a growing expatriate community with its warm climate numerous recreational areas and architectural and historical monuments including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum Valletta and seven megalithic temples which are some of the oldest free standing structures in the world NameThe English name Malta derives from Italian and Maltese Malta from medieval Arabic Maliṭa م ال ط ا from classical Latin Melita from latinised or Doric forms of the ancient Greek Melite Melith of uncertain origin The name Melite shared by the Croatian island Mljet in antiquity literally means place of honey or sweetness derived from the combining form of meli meli honey or any similarly sweet thing and the suffix e h The ancient Greeks may have given the island this name after Malta s endemic subspecies of bees Alternatively other scholars argue for derivation of the Greek name from an original Phoenician or Punic Maleth 𐤌𐤋𐤈 mlṭ meaning haven or port in reference to the Grand Harbour and its primary settlement at Cospicua following the sea level rise that separated the Maltese islands and flooded its original coastal settlements in the 10th century BC The name was then applied to all of Malta by the Greeks and to its ancient capital at Mdina by the Romans Malta and its demonym Maltese are attested in English from the late 16th century English Bible translations including the 1611 King James Version long used the Vulgate Latin form Melita although the 1525 Tyndale Bible used the transliteration Melite instead Malta is widely used in more recent versions HistoryPrehistory Malta has been inhabited from circa 5900 BC since the arrival of settlers originating from European Neolithic agriculturalists Pottery found by archaeologists at the Skorba Temples resembles that found in Italy and suggests that the Maltese islands were first settled in 5200 BC by Stone Age hunters or farmers who had arrived from Sicily possibly the Sicani The extinction of the dwarf hippos giant swans and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic include Għar Dalam The population on Malta grew cereals raised livestock and in common with other ancient Mediterranean cultures worshipped a fertility figure Ġgantija megalithic temple complex A culture of megalithic temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period Around 3500 BC these people built some of the oldest existing free standing structures in the world in the form of the megalithic Ġgantija temples on Gozo other early temples include those at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra The temples have distinctive architecture typically a complex trefoil design and were used from 4000 to 2500 BC Tentative information suggests that animal sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility whose statue is now in the National Museum of Archaeology in Valletta Another archaeological feature of the Maltese Islands often attributed to these ancient builders is equidistant uniform grooves dubbed cart tracks or cart ruts which can be found in several locations throughout the islands with the most prominent being those found in Misraħ Għar il Kbir These may have been caused by wooden wheeled carts eroding soft limestone The culture apparently disappeared from the islands around 2500 BC possibly due to famine or disease After 2500 BC the Maltese Islands were depopulated for several decades until an influx of Bronze Age immigrants a culture that cremated its dead and introduced smaller megalithic structures called dolmens They are claimed to belong to a population certainly different from that which built the previous megalithic temples It is presumed the population arrived from Sicily because of the similarity of Maltese dolmens to some small constructions found there Phoenicians Carthaginians and Romans The lands which comprise modern day Malta were a part of the Byzantine Empire the empire in 555 under Justinian the Great at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire its vassals in pink Phoenician traderscolonised the islands under the name Ann 𐤀𐤍𐤍 ʾNN sometime after 1000 BC as a stop on their trade routes from the eastern Mediterranean to Cornwall Their seat of government was apparently at Mdina which shared the island s name the primary port was at Cospicua on the Grand Harbour which they called Maleth After the fall of Phoenicia in 332 BC the area came under the control of Carthage During this time the people on Malta mainly cultivated olives and carob and produced textiles Roman mosaic from the Domvs Romana During the First Punic War the island was conquered after harsh fighting by Marcus Atilius Regulus After the failure of his expedition the island fell back in the hands of Carthage only to be conquered again during the Second Punic War in 218 BC by the Roman consul Tiberius Sempronius Longus Malta became a Foederata Civitas a designation that meant it was exempt from paying tribute or the rule of Roman law and fell within the jurisdiction of the province of Sicily Its capital at Mdina was renamed Melita after the Greek and Roman name for the island Punic influence however remained vibrant on the islands with the famous Cippi of Melqart pivotal in deciphering the Punic language dedicated in the second century BC Local Roman coinage which ceased in the first century BC indicates the slow pace of the island s Romanisation the last locally minted coins still bear inscriptions in Ancient Greek and Punic motifs showing the resistance of the Greek and Punic cultures In the second century Emperor Hadrian r 117 38 upgraded the status of Malta to a municipium or free town the island s local affairs were administered by four quattuorviri iuri dicundo and a municipal senate while a Roman procurator living in Mdina represented the proconsul of Sicily In AD 58 Paul the Apostle and Luke the Evangelist were shipwrecked on the islands Paul remained for three months preaching the Christian faith The island is mentioned at the Acts of the Apostles as Melitene Ancient Greek Melithnh In 395 when the Roman Empire was divided for the last time at the death of Theodosius I Malta following Sicily fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire During the Migration Period as the Western Roman Empire declined Malta was conquered or occupied a number of times From 454 to 464 the islands were subdued by the Vandals and after 464 by the Ostrogoths In 533 Belisarius on his way to conquer the Vandal Kingdom in North Africa reunited the islands under Imperial Eastern rule Little is known about the Byzantine rule in Malta the island depended on the theme of Sicily and had Greek governors and a small Greek garrison While the bulk of population continued to be constituted by the old Latinized dwellers during this period its religious allegiance oscillated between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople The Byzantine rule introduced Greek families to the Maltese collective Malta remained under the Byzantine Empire until 870 when it was conquered by the Arabs Arab period and the Middle Ages Malta became involved in the Arab Byzantine wars and the conquest of Malta is closely linked with that of Sicily that began in 827 after Admiral Euphemius betrayal of his fellow Byzantines requesting that the Aghlabids invade the island The Muslim chronicler and geographer al Himyari recounts that in 870 following a violent struggle against the defending Byzantines the Arab invaders first led by Halaf al Hadim and later by Sawada ibn Muhammad pillaged the island destroying the most important buildings and leaving it practically uninhabited until it was recolonised by the Arabs from Sicily in 1048 1049 It is uncertain whether this new settlement resulted from demographic expansion in Sicily a higher standard of living in Sicily in which case the recolonisation may have taken place a few decades earlier or a civil war which broke out among the Arab rulers of Sicily in 1038 The Arab Agricultural Revolution introduced new irrigation cotton and some fruits The Siculo Arabic language was adopted on the island from Sicily it eventually evolved into the Maltese language Norman conquest Roger I of Sicily returned Malta to Christian rule The Normans attacked Malta in 1091 as part of their conquest of Sicily The Norman leader Roger I of Sicily was welcomed by Christian captives though contrary to myth he did not tear off a portion of his checkered red and white banner and present it to the Maltese in gratitude for having fought on his behalf forming the basis of the modern flag of Malta Malta became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily which also covered the island of Sicily and the southern Italian Peninsula The Roman Catholic Church was reinstated as the state religion with Malta under the See of Palermo and some Norman architecture sprang up around Malta especially in its ancient capital Mdina King Tancred made Malta a fief of the kingdom and installed a Count of Malta in 1192 As the islands were much desired due to their strategic importance it was during this time that the men of Malta were militarised to fend off attempted conquest early Counts were skilled Genoese privateers The kingdom passed on to the Hohenstaufen dynasty from 1194 until 1266 As Emperor Frederick II began to reorganise his Sicilian kingdom Western culture and religion started to exert their influence more intensely Malta was declared a county and a marquisate but its trade was totally ruined For a long time it remained solely a fortified garrison A mass expulsion of Arabs occurred in 1224 and the entire Christian male population of Celano in Abruzzo was deported to Malta in the same year In 1249 Frederick II Holy Roman Emperor decreed that all remaining Muslims be expelled from Malta or compelled to convert For a brief period the kingdom passed to the Capetian House of Anjou but high taxes made the dynasty unpopular in Malta due in part to Charles of Anjou s war against the Republic of Genoa and the island of Gozo was sacked in 1275 Crown of Aragon the Knights of Malta and Portuguese Rule Flag of the Aragonese Kingdom of Sicily Malta was ruled by the House of Barcelona the ruling dynasty of the Crown of Aragon from 1282 to 1409 with the Aragonese aiding the Maltese insurgents in the Sicilian Vespers in the naval battle in Grand Harbour in 1283 Relatives of the kings of Aragon ruled the island until 1409 when it formally passed to the Crown of Aragon Early on in the Aragonese ascendancy the sons of the monarchs received the title Count of Malta During this time much of the local nobility was created By 1397 however the bearing of the comital title reverted to a feudal basis with two families fighting over the distinction This led King Martin I of Sicily to abolish the title The dispute over the title returned when the title was reinstated a few years later and the Maltese led by the local nobility rose up against Count Gonsalvo Monroy Although they opposed the Count the Maltese voiced their loyalty to the Sicilian Crown which so impressed King Alfonso V that he did not punish the people for their rebellion Instead he promised never to grant the title to a third party and incorporated it back into the crown The city of Mdina was given the title of Citta Notabile St Paul s Cathedral Mdina built in the Baroque style On 23 March 1530 Charles V Holy Roman Emperor gave the islands to the Knights Hospitaller under the leadership of Frenchman Philippe Villiers de L Isle Adam in perpetual lease for which they had to pay an annual tribute of a single Maltese Falcon These knights a military religious order also known as the Order of St John and later as the Knights of Malta had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522 The Knights Hospitaller ruled Malta and Gozo between 1530 and 1798 During this period the strategic and military importance of the island grew greatly as the small yet efficient fleet of the Order of Saint John launched their attacks from this new base targeting the shipping lanes of the Ottoman territories around the Mediterranean Sea In 1551 the population of the island of Gozo around 5 000 people were enslaved by Barbary pirates and taken to the Barbary Coast in North Africa Ottoman attack on the post of the Castilian knights on 21 August 1565 The knights led by Frenchman Jean Parisot de Valette withstood the Great Siege of Malta by the Ottomans in 1565 The knights with the help of Portuguese Spanish and Maltese forces repelled the attack After the siege they decided to increase Malta s fortifications particularly in the inner harbour area where the new city of Valletta named in honour of Valette was built They also established watchtowers along the coasts the Wignacourt Lascaris and De Redin towers named after the Grand Masters who ordered the work The Knights saw the completion of many architectural and cultural projects including the embellishment of Citta Vittoriosa modern Birgu and the construction of new cities including Citta Rohan modern Ħaz Zebbuġ However by the late 1700s the power of the Knights had declined and the Order had become unpopular French period and British conquest Bust of Bonaparte at Palazzo Parisio in Valletta The Knights reign ended when Napoleon captured Malta on his way to Egypt during the French Revolutionary Wars in 1798 During 12 18 June 1798 Napoleon resided at the Palazzo Parisio in Valletta He reformed national administration with the creation of a Government Commission twelve municipalities a public finance administration the abolition of all feudal rights and privileges the abolition of slavery and the granting of freedom to all Turkish and Jewish slaves On the judicial level a family code was framed and twelve judges were nominated Public education was organised along principles laid down by Bonaparte himself providing for primary and secondary education He then sailed for Egypt leaving a substantial garrison in Malta The French forces left behind became unpopular with the Maltese due particularly to the French forces hostility towards Catholicism and pillaging of local churches to fund war efforts French financial and religious policies so angered the Maltese that they rebelled forcing the French to depart Great Britain along with the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily sent ammunition and aid to the Maltese and Britain also sent its navy which blockaded the islands On 28 October 1798 Captain Sir Alexander Ball successfully completed negotiations with the French garrison on Gozo for a surrender and transfer of the island to the British The British transferred the island to the locals that day and it was administered by Archpriest Saverio Cassar on behalf of Ferdinand III of Sicily Gozo remained independent until Cassar was removed by the British in 1801 General Claude Henri Belgrand de Vaubois surrendered his French forces in 1800 Maltese leaders presented the main island to Sir Alexander Ball asking that the island become a British Dominion The Maltese people created a Declaration of Rights in which they agreed to come under the protection and sovereignty of the King of the free people His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland The Declaration also stated that his Majesty has no right to cede these Islands to any power if he chooses to withdraw his protection and abandon his sovereignty the right of electing another sovereign or of the governing of these Islands belongs to us the inhabitants and aborigines alone and without control British Empire and the Second World War The heavily bomb damaged Kingsway now Republic Street in Valletta during the siege of Malta 1942 In 1814 as part of the Treaty of Paris Malta officially became a part of the British Empire and was used as a shipping way station and fleet headquarters After the Suez Canal opened in 1869 Malta s position halfway between the Strait of Gibraltar and Egypt proved to be its main asset and it was considered an important stop on the way to India a central trade route for the British A Turkish Military Cemetery was commissioned by Sultan Abdul Aziz and built between 1873 and 1874 for the fallen Ottoman soldiers of the Great Siege of Malta Between 1915 and 1918 during the First World War Malta became known as the Nurse of the Mediterranean due to the large number of wounded soldiers who were accommodated there On 7 June 1919 the Maltese public rioted in response to a cost of living crisis British troops eventually managed to suppress the riots killing four in the process The event known as Sette Giugno 7 June is commemorated every year and is one of five National Days Until the Second World War Maltese politics was dominated by the Language Question fought out by Italophone and Anglophone parties Before the Second World War Valletta was the location of the Royal Navy s Mediterranean fleet headquarters however despite Winston Churchill s objections the command was moved to Alexandria Egypt in 1937 out of fear that it was too susceptible to air attacks from Europe During the war Malta played an important role for the Allies being a British colony situated close to Sicily and the Axis shipping lanes Malta was bombarded by the Italian and German air forces Malta was used by the British to launch attacks on the Italian Navy and had a submarine base It was also used as a listening post intercepting German radio messages including Enigma traffic The bravery of the Maltese people during the second siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on 15 April 1942 Some historians argue that the award caused Britain to incur disproportionate losses in defending Malta as British credibility would have suffered if Malta had surrendered as British forces in Singapore had done A depiction of the George Cross now appears on the Flag of Malta and the country s arms Independence and Republic Monument to the independence of Malta in FlorianaMalta joined the European Union in 2004 and signed the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 Malta achieved its independence as the State of Malta on 21 September 1964 Independence Day Under its 1964 constitution Malta initially retained Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta and thus head of state with a governor general exercising executive authority on her behalf In 1971 the Malta Labour Party led by Dom Mintoff won the general elections resulting in Malta declaring itself a republic on 13 December 1974 Republic Day within the Commonwealth A defence agreement was signed soon after independence and after being re negotiated in 1972 expired on 31 March 1979 Freedom Day Upon its expiry the British base closed and lands formerly controlled by the British were given to the Maltese government In the aftermath of the departure of the remaining British troops in 1979 the country intensified its participation in the Non Aligned Movement Malta adopted a policy of neutrality in 1980 In that same year three of Malta s sites including the capital Valletta were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List In 1989 Malta was the venue of a summit between US President George H W Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev their first face to face encounter which signalled the end of the Cold War Malta International Airport was inaugurated and became fully operational on 25 March 1992 boosting the local aircraft and tourism industry A referendum on joining the European Union was held on 8 March 2003 with 53 65 in favour Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and the eurozone on 1 January 2008 PoliticsRobert Abela Prime Minister of Malta since 13 January 2020 The Parliament House in Valletta Malta is a republic whose parliamentary system and public administration are closely modelled on the Westminster system The unicameral parliament is made up of the president of Malta and the House of Representatives Maltese Kamra tad Deputati The House of Representatives has 65 members elected for a five year term in 13 five seat electoral divisions called distretti elettorali with constitutional amendments that allow for mechanisms to establish strict proportionality amongst seats and votes of political parliamentary groups Members of the House of Representatives are elected by direct universal suffrage through single transferable vote every five years unless the House is dissolved earlier by the president either on the advice of the prime minister or through a motion of no confidence Malta had the second highest voter turnout in the world and the highest for nations without mandatory voting based on election turnout in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995 The President of Malta a largely ceremonial position is appointed for a five year term by a resolution of the House of Representatives carried by a simple majority The president is the head of state The current president of the republic is Myriam Spiteri Debono who was elected on 27 March 2024 by members of parliament in an indirect election The 80th article of the Constitution of Malta provides that the president appoint as prime minister the member of the House of Representatives who in his judgment is best able to command the support of a majority of the members of that House Maltese politics is a two party system dominated by the Labour Party Maltese Partit Laburista a centre left social democratic party and the Nationalist Party Maltese Partit Nazzjonalista a centre right Christian democratic party The Labour Party has been the governing party since 2013 and is currently led by Prime Minister Robert Abela who has been in office since 13 January 2020 There are also a number of small political parties in Malta which have no parliamentary representation Corruption money laundering and government maladministration in Malta have significantly increased since the Labour Party returned to power In fact Malta s record of clean governance has decreased since 2013 and the country is now considered among one of the worst EU member states in tackling corruption according to Transparency International The same association reported that Malta dropped to its lowest ever ranking of 65th place in a report published on February 2025 Administrative divisions Administrative divisions of Malta Malta has had a system of local government since 1993 based on the European Charter of Local Self Government The country is divided into six regions one of them being Gozo with each region having its own Regional Council serving as the intermediate level between local government and national government The regions are divided into local councils of which there are currently 68 54 in Malta and 14 in Gozo The six districts five on Malta and the sixth being Gozo serve primarily statistical purposes Each council is made up of a number of councillors from 5 to 13 depending on and relative to the population they represent A mayor and a deputy mayor are elected by and from the councillors The executive secretary who is appointed by the council is the executive administrative and financial head of the council Councillors are elected every four years through the single transferable vote Due to system reforms no elections were held before 2012 Since then elections have been held every two years for an alternating half of the councils Local councils are responsible for the general upkeep and embellishment of the locality including repairs to non arterial roads allocation of local wardens and refuse collection they also carry out general administrative duties for the central government such as the collection of government rents and funds and answer government related public inquiries Additionally a number of individual towns and villages in the Republic of Malta have sister cities Military Maltese patrol ship at Hay Wharf Floriana The objectives of the Armed Forces of Malta AFM are to maintain a military organisation with the primary aim of defending the islands integrity according to the defence roles as set by the government in an efficient and cost effective manner This is achieved by emphasising the maintenance of Malta s territorial waters and airspace integrity The AFM also engages in combating terrorism fighting against illicit drug trafficking conducting anti illegal immigrant operations and patrols and anti illegal fishing operations operating search and rescue SAR services and physical or electronic security and surveillance of sensitive locations Malta s search and rescue area extends from east of Tunisia to west of Crete an area of around 250 000 km2 97 000 sq mi As a military organisation the AFM provides backup support to the Malta Police Force MPF and other government departments agencies in situations as required in an organised disciplined manner in the event of national emergencies such as natural disasters or internal security and bomb disposal In 2020 Malta signed and ratified the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons Human rights Malta is regarded as one of the most LGBT supportive countries in the world and was the first nation in the European Union to prohibit conversion therapy Malta also constitutionally bans discrimination based on disability Maltese legislation recognises both civil and canonical ecclesiastical marriages Annulments by the ecclesiastical and civil courts are unrelated and are not necessarily mutually endorsed Malta voted in favour of divorce legislation in a referendum held on 28 May 2011 Abortion in Malta is illegal It and Poland are the only European Union members with near total bans on the procedure There are no exceptions for rape or incest On 21 November 2022 the government led by the Labour Party proposed a bill that introduces a new clause into the country s criminal code allowing for the termination of a pregnancy if the mother s life is at risk or if her health is in serious jeopardy the bill passed in June 2023 with amendments restricting the exception to situations where the woman s life is at risk GeographySatellite photo of Maltese islands Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean in its eastern basin some 80 km 50 mi from southern Italy across the Malta Channel Only the three largest islands Malta Maltese Malta Gozo Għawdex and Comino Kemmuna are inhabited The islands of the archipelago lie on the Malta plateau a shallow shelf formed from the high points of a land bridge between Sicily and North Africa that became isolated as sea levels rose after the last ice age The archipelago is located on the African tectonic plate Malta was considered an island of North Africa for centuries The seabed surrounding Malta s islands retains traces of ancient geomarine features suggesting potential archaeological discoveries that could shed light on the region s prehistoric environment Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide good harbours The landscape consists of low hills with terraced fields The highest point in Malta is Ta Dmejrek at 253 m 830 ft near Dingli Although there are some small rivers at times of high rainfall there are no permanent rivers or lakes on Malta However some watercourses have fresh water running all year round at Baħrija near Ras ir Raħeb at l Imtaħleb and San Martin and at Lunzjata Valley in Gozo Phytogeographically Malta belongs to the Liguro Tyrrhenian province of the Mediterranean region within the Boreal Kingdom According to the WWF the territory of Malta belongs to the terrestrial ecoregion of Tyrrhenian Adriatic sclerophyllous and mixed forests The following uninhabited minor islands are part of the archipelago Barbaġanni Rock Gozo Cominotto Kemmunett Dellimara Island Marsaxlokk Filfla Zurrieq Siġġiewi Fessej Rock Fungus Rock Il Ġebla tal Ġeneral Gozo Għallis Rock Naxxar Ħalfa Rock Gozo Large Blue Lagoon Rocks Comino Islands of St Paul Selmunett Island Mellieħa Manoel Island which connects to the town of Gzira on the mainland via a bridge Mistra Rocks San Pawl il Baħar Taċ Ċawl Rock Gozo Qawra Point Ta Fraben Island San Pawl il Baħar Small Blue Lagoon Rocks Comino Sala Rock Zabbar Xrobb l Għaġin Rock Marsaxlokk Ta taħt il Mazz Rock Climate Malta has a Mediterranean climate Koppen climate classification Csa with mild winters and hot summers hotter in the inland areas Rain occurs mainly in autumn and winter with summer being generally dry The average yearly temperature is around 23 C 73 F during the day and 15 5 C 59 9 F at night In the coldest month January the typical maximum temperature ranges from 12 to 18 C 54 to 64 F during the day and minimum 6 to 12 C 43 to 54 F at night In the warmest month August the typical maximum temperature ranges from 28 to 34 C 82 to 93 F during the day and minimum 20 to 24 C 68 to 75 F at night Amongst all capitals in the continent of Europe Valletta the capital of Malta has the warmest winters with average temperatures of around 15 to 16 C 59 to 61 F during the day and 9 to 10 C 48 to 50 F at night in the period January February In March and December average temperatures are around 17 C 63 F during the day and 11 C 52 F at night Large fluctuations in temperature are rare Snow is very rare although snowfalls have been recorded in the last century the last one in 2014 The average annual sea temperature is 20 C 68 F from 15 16 C 59 61 F in February to 26 C 79 F in August In the 6 months from June to November the average sea temperature exceeds 20 C 68 F The annual average relative humidity is high averaging 75 ranging from 65 in July morning 78 evening 53 to 80 in December morning 83 evening 73 Sunshine duration hours total around 3 000 per year from an average 5 2 hours of sunshine duration per day in December to an average above 12 hours in July This is about double that of cities in the northern half of Europe original research for comparison London 1 461 however in winter it has up to four times more sunshine for comparison in December London has 37 hours of sunshine whereas Malta has above 160 Climate data for Malta Luqa in the south east part of main island 1991 2020 Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec YearMean daily maximum C F 15 7 60 3 15 7 60 3 17 4 63 3 20 0 68 0 24 2 75 6 28 7 83 7 31 7 89 1 32 0 89 6 28 6 83 5 25 0 77 0 20 8 69 4 17 2 63 0 23 1 73 6 Daily mean C F 12 9 55 2 12 6 54 7 14 1 57 4 16 4 61 5 20 1 68 2 24 2 75 6 26 9 80 4 27 5 81 5 24 9 76 8 21 8 71 2 17 9 64 2 14 5 58 1 19 5 67 1 Mean daily minimum C F 10 1 50 2 9 5 49 1 10 9 51 6 12 8 55 0 15 8 60 4 19 6 67 3 22 1 71 8 23 0 73 4 21 2 70 2 18 4 65 1 14 9 58 8 11 8 53 2 15 9 60 6 Average precipitation mm inches 79 3 3 12 73 2 2 88 45 3 1 78 20 7 0 81 11 0 0 43 6 2 0 24 0 2 0 01 17 0 0 67 60 7 2 39 81 8 3 22 91 0 3 58 93 7 3 69 580 7 22 86 Average precipitation days 1 0 mm 10 0 8 2 6 1 3 8 1 5 0 8 0 0 1 0 4 3 6 6 8 7 10 0 61Mean monthly sunshine hours 169 3 178 1 227 2 253 8 309 7 336 9 376 7 352 2 270 0 223 8 195 0 161 2 3 054Source Meteo Climate 1991 2020 Data MaltaWeather com Sun data Urbanisation The main urban area of Malta Valletta is the central peninsula According to Eurostat Malta is composed of two larger urban zones nominally referred to as Valletta the main island of Malta and Gozo The main urban area covers the entire main island with a population of around 400 000 The core of the urban area the greater city of Valletta has a population of 205 768 According to the data from 2020 by Eurostat the Functional Urban Area and metropolitan region covered the whole island and has a population of 480 134 According to the United Nations about 95 percent of the area of Malta is urban and the number grows every year According to ESPON and EU Commission studies the whole territory of Malta constitutes a single urban region Malta with area of 316 km2 122 sq mi and population of over 0 5 million is one of the most densely populated countries worldwide It is in some sources referred to as a city state Sometimes Malta is listed in rankings concerning cities or metropolitan areas Flora National plant Maltese centaury Widnet il Baħar since 1971 Malta contains only 4 6 square kilometres of naturally regenerating forest characterised by mature trees with a height of 2 to 5 meters The overall area occupied by trees is estimated to be 320 square kilometres which constitutes approximately 1 44 of the total land area of the archipelago The most common indigenous tree species are the willow Salix alba poplar Populus alba olive Olea europaea carob Ceratonia siliqua oak Quericus ilex amp Quercus rotundifolia Aleppo pine Pinus halepensis laurel Laurus nobilis and fig Ficus carica while the most common non native trees are eucalyptus acacia date palm and opuntia The Maltese islands are also home to a wide diversity of indigenous sub endemic and endemic plants They feature many traits typical of a Mediterranean climate such as drought resistance Endemic plants include the national flower widnet il baħar Cheirolophus crassifolius sempreviva ta Malta Helichrysum panormitanum subsp melitense zigland t Għawdex Hyoseris frutescens and ġizi ta Malta Matthiola incana subsp melitensis while sub endemics include kromb il baħar Jacobaea maritima subsp sicula and xkattapietra Micromeria microphylla The biodiversity of Malta is severely endangered by habitat loss invasive species and human intervention EconomyThis section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information December 2019 A new and modern financial centre opened in 2021 Central Bank of Malta Pope Pius V Street in Valletta Malta Malta is classified as an advanced economy according to the International Monetary Fund IMF Malta s major resources are limestone a favourable geographic location and a productive labour force Malta produces only about 20 percent of its food needs has limited fresh water supplies because of the drought in the summer and has no domestic energy sources aside from the potential for solar energy from its plentiful sunlight The economy is dependent on foreign trade serving as a freight trans shipment point manufacturing especially electronics and textiles and tourism Film production has contributed to the Maltese economy Access to biocapacity in Malta is below the world average In 2016 Malta had 0 6 global hectares of biocapacity per person within its territory contrasted with a global average of 1 6 hectares per person Additionally residents of Malta exhibited an ecological footprint of consumption of 5 8 global hectares of biocapacity per person resulting in a sizable biocapacity deficit Malta is part of a monetary union the eurozone dark blue In preparation for Malta s membership in the European Union which it joined on 1 May 2004 it privatised some state controlled firms and liberalised markets Malta has a financial regulator the Malta Financial Services Authority MFSA with a strong business development mindset and the country has been successful in attracting gaming businesses aircraft and ship registration credit card issuing banking licences and also fund administration Malta has made strong headway in implementing EU Financial Services Directives including UCITs IV and Alternative Investment Fund Managers AIFMs As a base for alternative asset managers who must comply with new directives Malta has attracted a number of key players including IDS Iconic Funds Apex Fund Services and TMF Customs House As of 2015 Malta did not have a property tax Its property market especially around the harbour area was booming with the prices of apartments in some towns like St Julian s Sliema and Gzira skyrocketing According to Eurostat data Maltese GDP per capita stood at 88 per cent of the EU average in 2015 with 21 000 The National Development and Social Fund from the Individual Investor Programme a citizenship by investment programme also known as the citizenship scheme became a significant income source for the government of Malta adding 432 000 000 euro to the budget in 2018 Banking and finance Portomaso Business Tower the second tallest building in Malta The two largest commercial banks are Bank of Valletta and HSBC Bank Malta Digital banks such as Revolut have also increased in popularity The Central Bank of Malta Bank Ċentrali ta Malta has two key areas of responsibility the formulation and implementation of monetary policy and the promotion of a sound and efficient financial system The Maltese government entered ERM II on 4 May 2005 and adopted the euro as the country s currency on 1 January 2008 Currency Maltese euro coins feature the Maltese cross on 2 and 1 coins the coat of arms of Malta on the 0 50 0 20 and 0 10 coins and the Mnajdra Temples on the 0 05 0 02 and 0 01 coins Malta has produced collectors coins with face value ranging from 10 to 50 euros These coins continue an existing national practice of minting of silver and gold commemorative coins Unlike normal issues these coins are not accepted in all the eurozone From its introduction in 1972 until the introduction of the Euro in 2008 the currency was the Maltese lira which had replaced the Maltese pound The pound replaced the Maltese scudo in 1825 Tourism Mellieħa Bay beach Malta is a popular tourist destination with 1 6 million tourists per year three times more tourists visit than there are residents Tourism infrastructure has increased dramatically over the years and a number of hotels are present on the island although overdevelopment and the destruction of traditional housing is of growing concern In 2019 Malta had a record year in tourism recording over 2 1 million tourists in one single year In recent years Malta has advertised itself as a medical tourism destination and a number of health tourism providers are developing the industry However no Maltese hospital has undergone independent international healthcare accreditation Malta is popular with British medical tourists pointing Maltese hospitals towards seeking UK sourced accreditation such as with the Trent Accreditation Scheme Tourism in Malta contributes around 11 6 percent of the country s gross domestic product Science and technology Malta signed a co operation agreement with the European Space Agency ESA for more intensive co operation in ESA projects The Malta Council for Science and Technology MCST is the civil body responsible for the development of science and technology on an educational and social level Most science students in Malta graduate from the University of Malta and are represented by S Cubed Science Student s Society UESA University Engineering Students Association and ICTSA University of Malta ICT Students Association Malta was ranked 29th in the Global Innovation Index in 2024 DemographicsSelf identified racial origin 2021 censusRacial originCaucasian 89 1 Asian 5 2 Arab 1 7 African 1 5 Hispanic or Latino 1 3 More than one racial origin 1 2 As of the 2021 census Maltese born natives make up the majority of the island with 386 280 people out of a total population of 519 562 However there are minorities the largest of which by birthplace were 15 082 from the United Kingdom Italy 13 361 India 7 946 Philippines 7 784 and Serbia 5 935 Among racial origins for the non Maltese 58 1 of all identified as Caucasian 22 2 Asian 6 3 Arab 6 0 African 4 5 Hispanic or Latino and 2 9 more than one race As of 2005 update 17 percent were aged 14 and under 68 percent were within the 15 64 age bracket whilst the remaining 13 percent were 65 years and over Malta s population density of 1 282 per square km 3 322 sq mi is by far the highest in the EU and one of the highest in the world Valletta Malta s capital The Maltese resident population for 2004 was estimated to make up 97 0 per cent of the total resident population All censuses since 1842 have shown a slight excess of females over males Population growth has slowed down from 9 5 per cent between the 1985 and 1995 censuses to 6 9 per cent between the 1995 and 2005 censuses a yearly average of 0 7 per cent The birth rate stood at 3860 a decrease of 21 8 per cent from the 1995 census and the death rate stood at 3025 Thus there was a natural population increase of 835 compared to 888 for 2004 of which over a hundred were foreign residents The population s age composition is similar to the age structure prevalent in the EU Malta s old age dependency ratio rose from 17 2 percent in 1995 to 19 8 percent in 2005 reasonably lower than the EU s 24 9 percent average 31 5 percent of the Maltese population is aged under 25 compared to the EU s 29 1 percent but the 50 64 age group constitutes 20 3 percent of the population significantly higher than the EU s 17 9 percent Malta s old age dependency ratio is expected to continue rising steadily in the coming years In 2021 the population of the Maltese Islands stood at 519 562 The total fertility rate TFR as of 2016 update was estimated at 1 45 children born woman which is below the replacement rate of 2 1 In 2012 25 8 per cent of births were to unmarried women The life expectancy in 2018 was estimated at 83 Languages Il Kantilena by Pietru Caxaro the oldest text in Maltese language 15th century The Maltese language Maltese Malti is one of the two constitutional languages of Malta and is considered the national language The second official language is English and hence laws are enacted both in Maltese and English However article 74 of the Constitution states that if there is any conflict between the Maltese and the English texts of any law the Maltese text shall prevail Many speakers of English use a local dialect Maltese English Maltese is a Semitic language descended from the now extinct Sicilian Arabic Siculo Arabic dialect from southern Italy that developed during the Emirate of Sicily The Maltese alphabet consists of 30 letters based on the Latin alphabet In 2022 Malta National Statistics Office states that 90 percent of the Maltese population has at least a basic knowledge of Maltese 96 percent of English 62 percent of Italian and 20 percent of French This widespread knowledge of second languages makes Malta one of the most multilingual countries in the European Union A study collecting public opinion on what language was preferred discovered that 86 percent of the population preferred Maltese 12 percent English and 2 percent Italian Italian television channels from Italy based broadcasters such as Mediaset and RAI reach Malta and remain popular Maltese Sign Language is used by signers in Malta Religion The template Pie chart is being considered for merging Religion in Malta 2021 census Roman Catholic Church 82 6 Eastern Orthodox 3 6 Church of England 1 3 Other Protestantism 1 Islam 3 9 Hinduism 1 4 Buddhism 0 5 Judaism 0 3 Other religious groups 0 04 No religion 5 1 The predominant religion in Malta is Roman Catholicism The second article of the Constitution of Malta establishes Roman Catholicism as the state religion and it is also reflected in various elements of Maltese culture although there are entrenched provisions for the freedom of religion There are more than 360 churches in Malta Gozo and Comino or one church for every 1 000 residents The parish church Maltese il parroċċa or il knisja parrokkjali is the architectural and geographic focal point of every Maltese town and village Malta is an Apostolic See the Acts of the Apostles Acts 28 tells of how St Paul was shipwrecked on the island of Melite which many Biblical scholars identify with Malta an episode dated around AD 60 The first Maltese saint Saint Publius is said to have been made Malta s first bishop Further evidence of Christian practices and beliefs during the period of Roman persecution appears in catacombs that lie beneath various sites around Malta including St Paul s Catacombs There are also a number of cave churches including the grotto at Mellieħa which is a Shrine of the Nativity of Our Lady where according to legend St Luke painted a picture of the Virgin Mary It has been a place of pilgrimage since the medieval period For centuries the Church in Malta was subordinate to the Diocese of Palermo except when it was under Charles of Anjou who appointed bishops for Malta as did on rare occasions the Spanish and later the Knights Since 1808 all bishops of Malta have been Maltese The patron saints of Malta are Saint Paul Saint Publius and Saint Agatha Although not a patron saint St George Preca San Ġorġ Preca is greatly revered as the second canonised Maltese saint after St Publius Various Roman Catholic religious orders are present in Malta including the Jesuits Franciscans Dominicans Carmelites and Little Sisters of the Poor There exists a considerable minority of Eastern Orthodox Christians in Malta of which there are 16 457 according to the 2021 census although the number may also include Oriental Orthodox Christians who are not in communion with the former There are a small number of parishes belonging to each autocephalous Church typically one for each There are Greek Russian Serbian Romanian and Bulgarian Orthodox parishes located around Malta Most congregants of the local Protestant churches are not Maltese their congregations mainly draw on vacationers and British retirees living in the country There are also a Seventh day Adventist church in Birkirkara and a New Apostolic Church congregation founded in 1983 in Gwardamangia There are approximately 600 Jehovah s Witnesses Mormonism is also represented with 241 members in 1 congregation in Mosta The Beheading of Saint John by Caravaggio Oil on canvas 361 cm 520 cm 142 13 in 204 72 in Oratory of the Co Cathedral The Jewish population of Malta reached its peak in the Middle Ages under Norman rule In 1479 Malta and Sicily came under Aragonese rule and the Alhambra Decree of 1492 forced all Jews to leave the country Today there are two Jewish congregations In 2019 the Jewish community in Malta gathered around 150 persons slightly more than the 120 of which 80 were active estimated in 2003 and mostly elderly Many among the newer generations decided to settle abroad including in England and Israel Most contemporary Maltese Jews are Sephardi however an Ashkenazi prayer book is used In 2013 the Chabad Jewish Centre in Malta was founded There is one purpose built Muslim mosque the Mariam Al Batool Mosque although there are also a few improvised mosques located in Muslim homes spread around the island Of the estimated 3 000 Muslims in Malta approximately 2 250 are foreigners approximately 600 are naturalised citizens and approximately 150 are native born Maltese Zen Buddhism and the Bahaʼi Faith claim some 40 members In a survey held by Malta Today the overwhelming majority of the Maltese population adheres to Christianity 95 2 with Roman Catholicism as the main denomination 93 9 4 5 of the population declared themselves either atheist or agnostic one of the lowest figures in Europe According to a 2019 Eurobarometer survey 83 of the population identified as Roman Catholic The number of atheists has doubled from 2014 to 2018 Non religious people have a higher risk of suffering from discrimination In the 2015 edition of the annual Freedom of Thought Report from the International Humanist and Ethical Union Malta was in the category of severe discrimination In 2016 following the abolishment of blasphemy law Malta was shifted to the category of systematic discrimination same as most EU countries Migration Foreign population in MaltaYear Population total2005 12 112 3 0 2011 20 289 4 9 2019 98 918 21 0 2020 119 261 23 17 Historically a land of emigration since the early 21st century Malta has seen a significant increase in net migration the foreign born population has grown nearly eightfold between 2005 and 2020 Most of the foreign community in Malta consists of active or retired British nationals and their dependents centred on Sliema and surrounding suburbs Other smaller foreign groups include Italians Libyans and Serbians many of whom have assimilated into the Maltese nation over the decades Malta is also home to a large number of foreign workers who migrated to the island for economic opportunity This migration was driven predominantly in the early 21st century when the Maltese economy was steadily booming yet the cost and quality of living on the island remained relatively stable In recent years however the local Maltese housing index has doubled pushing property and rental prices to very high and almost unaffordable levels Consequently some expats in Malta have seen their relative financial fortunes decline with others relocating to other European countries altogether Since the late 20th century Malta has become a transit country for migration routes from Africa towards Europe As a member of the European Union and the Schengen Agreement Malta is bound by the Dublin Regulation to process all claims for asylum by those asylum seekers that enter EU territory for the first time in Malta However irregular migrants who land in Malta are subject to a compulsory detention policy being held in several camps organised by the Armed Forces of Malta AFM including those near Ħal Far and Ħal Safi The compulsory detention policy has been denounced by several NGOs and in July 2010 the European Court of Human Rights found that Malta s detention of migrants was arbitrary lacking in adequate procedures to challenge detention and in breach of its obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights On 8 September 2020 Amnesty International criticised Malta for illegal tactics in the Mediterranean against immigrants who were attempting to cross from North Africa The reports claimed that the government s approach might have led to avoidable deaths In January 2014 Malta started granting citizenship for a 650 000 contribution plus investments contingent on residence and criminal background checks This golden passport citizenship scheme has been criticized as a fraudulent act by the Maltese Government clarification needed Concerns as to whether the Maltese citizenship scheme is allowing an influx of such individuals into the greater European Union have been raised by both the public as well as the European Council on multiple occasions Child Migrants Memorial at the Valletta Waterfront commemorating the 310 child migrants who travelled to Australia between 1950 and 1965 In the 19th century most emigration from Malta was to North Africa and the Middle East although rates of return migration to Malta were high In the 20th century most emigrants went to destinations in the New World particularly to Australia Canada and the United States Post Second World War Malta s Emigration Department would assist emigrants with the cost of their travel Between 1948 and 1967 30 percent of the population emigrated Between 1946 and the late 1970s over 140 000 people left Malta on the assisted passage scheme with 57 6 migrating to Australia 22 to the UK 13 to Canada and 7 to the United States Emigration dropped dramatically after the mid 1970s and has since ceased to be a social phenomenon of significance However since Malta joined the EU in 2004 expatriate communities emerged in a number of European countries particularly in Belgium and Luxembourg Education University of MaltaNational Library in Valletta Primary schooling has been compulsory since 1946 secondary education up to the age of sixteen was made compulsory in 1971 The state and the Church provide education free of charge both running a number of schools in Malta and Gozo As of 2006 update state schools are organised into networks known as Colleges and incorporate kindergarten schools primary and secondary schools A number of private schools are run in Malta St Catherine s High School Pembroke offers an International Foundation Course for students wishing to learn English before entering mainstream education As of 2008 update there are two international schools Verdala International School and QSI Malta The state pays a portion of the teachers salary in Church schools Education in Malta is based on the British model Primary school lasts six years Pupils sit for SEC O level examinations at the age of 16 with passes obligatory in mathematics a minimum of one science subject English and Maltese Pupils may opt to continue studying at a sixth form college for two years at the end of which students sit for the matriculation examination Subject to their performance students may then apply for an undergraduate degree or diploma The adult literacy rate is 99 5 per cent Maltese and English are both used to teach pupils at the primary and secondary school level and both languages are also compulsory subjects Public schools tend to use both Maltese and English in a balanced manner Private schools prefer to use English for teaching as is also the case with most departments of the University of Malta this has a limiting effect on the capacity and development of the Maltese language Most university courses are in English The based in Malta teaches exclusively in English Of the total number of pupils studying a first foreign language at secondary level 51 per cent take Italian whilst 38 per cent take French Other choices include German Russian Spanish Latin Chinese and Arabic Malta is also a popular destination to study the English language attracting over 83 000 students in 2019 InfrastructureTransport Owing to the British colonial rule traffic in Malta drives on the left Car ownership in Malta is exceedingly high considering the very small size of the islands it is the fourth highest in the European Union There were 182 254 registered cars in 1990 giving an automobile density of 577 km2 1 494 sq mi Malta has 2 254 kilometres 1 401 miles of road 1 972 km 1 225 mi 87 5 per cent of which are paved as of December 2003 Maltese Otokar and King Long buses Buses xarabank or karozza tal linja are the primary method of public transport established in 1905 Malta s vintage buses operated in the Maltese islands up to 2011 and became popular tourist attractions To this day they are depicted on many Maltese advertisements and merchandise for tourists The bus service underwent extensive reform in July 2011 The management structure changed from having self employed drivers driving their own vehicles to a service being offered by a single company through a public tender The public tender was won by Arriva Malta which introduced a fleet of brand new buses built by King Long especially for service by Arriva Malta and including a smaller fleet of articulated buses brought in from Arriva London It also operated two smaller buses for an intra Valletta route only and 61 nine metre buses which were used to ease congestion on high density routes Overall Arriva Malta operated 264 buses On 1 January 2014 Arriva ceased operations in Malta due to financial difficulties having been nationalised as Malta Public Transport The government chose Autobuses Urbanos de Leon Alsa subsidiary as its preferred bus operator for the country in October 2014 From October 2022 the bus system is free of charge for residents of Malta As of 2021 an underground Malta Metro is being planned with a projected total cost of 6 2 billion Malta Freeport one of the largest European ports Malta has three large natural harbours on its main island The Grand Harbour or Port il Kbir located at the eastern side of the capital city of Valletta has been a harbour since Roman times It has several extensive docks and wharves as well as a cruise liner terminal A terminal at the Grand Harbour serves ferries that connect Malta to Pozzallo amp Catania in Sicily Marsamxett Harbour located on the western side of Valletta accommodates a number of yacht marinas Marsaxlokk Harbour Malta Freeport at Birzebbuġa on the south eastern side of Malta is the islands main cargo terminal Malta Freeport is the 11th busiest container ports in continent of Europe and 46th in the World with a trade volume of 2 3 million TEU s in 2008 There are also two human made harbours that serve a passenger and car ferry service that connects Ċirkewwa Harbour on Malta and Mġarr Harbour on Gozo Malta International Airport Ajruport Internazzjonali ta Malta is the only airport serving the Maltese islands It is built on the land formerly occupied by the RAF Luqa air base A heliport is also located there The heliport in Gozo is at Xewkija A former airfield at Ta Qali houses a national park stadium the Crafts Village visitor attraction and the Malta Aviation Museum An Air Malta Airbus A320 From 1 April 1974 to 30 March 2024 the national airline was Air Malta which was based at Malta International Airport and operated services to 22 destinations in Europe and North Africa The owners of Air Malta were the Government of Malta 98 percent and private investors 2 percent On 31 March 2024 KM Malta Airlines took over as the national airline of Malta All former Air Malta Airplanes and other assets were transferred to the new airline together with the staff KM Malta Airlines is based at Malta International Airport and operates services to 18 destinations in Europe In June 2019 Ryanair has invested into a fully fledged airline subsidiary called Malta Air operating a low cost model The Government of Malta holds one share in the airline Communications The mobile penetration rate in Malta exceeded 100 by the end of 2009 Malta uses the GSM900 UMTS 3G and LTE 4G mobile phone systems which are compatible with the rest of the European countries Australia and New Zealand citation needed In early 2012 the government called for a national Fibre to the Home FttH network to be built with a minimum broadband service being upgraded from 4 Mbit s to 100 Mbit s Power Generation Malta relied on coal till 1996 for electricity generation In 1992 a new power station was built on the Delimara peninsula in Marsaxlokk Originally the Delimara Power Station in 2015 used oil for electricity generation before being converted to LNG in 2017 The power station also includes two gasoil fired plants which are used as standby power generation capacity during emergencies or lack of other power sources Since 2015 the Malta Sicily interconnector allows Malta to be connected to the European power grid and import a significant share of its electricity Healthcare Malta has a long history of providing publicly funded health care The first hospital recorded in the country was already functioning by 1372 Today Malta has both a public healthcare system where healthcare is free at the point of delivery and a private healthcare system Malta has a strong general practitioner delivered primary care base and the public hospitals provide secondary and tertiary care The Maltese Ministry of Health advises foreign residents to take out private medical insurance Mater Dei Hospital Malta also boasts voluntary organisations such as Alpha Medical Advanced Care the Emergency Fire amp Rescue Unit E F R U St John Ambulance and Red Cross Malta who provide first aid nursing services during events involving crowds Malta s primary hospital opened in 2007 It has one of the largest medical buildings in Europe The University of Malta has a medical school and a Faculty of Health Sciences The Medical Association of Malta represents practitioners of the medical profession The Foundation Programme followed in the UK has been introduced in Malta to stem the brain drain of newly graduated physicians to the British Isles CultureThe culture of Malta reflects the various cultures that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries Music Manoel Theatre Europe s third oldest working theatre Now Malta s National Theatre and home to the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra While Maltese music today is largely Western traditional Maltese music includes what is known as għana This consists of background folk guitar music while a few people generally men take it in turns to argue a point in a sing song voice Music plays an important part in Maltese culture as each locality parades its own band club on various occasions these being multiple per locality and function to establish the thematic musical background to the various village feasts The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra is recognised as Malta s foremost musical institution and is notable for being called to participate in important state events Contemporary music in Malta spans a variety of styles and sports international classical talents such as Miriam Gauci and Joseph Calleja as well as non classical music bands such as Winter Moods and Red Electric and singers like Ira Losco Fabrizio Faniello Glen Vella Kevin Borg Kurt Calleja Chiara Siracusa and Thea Garrett Literature Documented Maltese literature is over 200 years old However a recently unearthed love ballad testifies to literary activity in the local tongue from the Medieval period Malta followed a Romantic literary tradition culminating in the works of Dun Karm Psaila Malta s national poet Subsequent writers like Ruzar Briffa and Karmenu Vassallo tried to estrange themselves from the rigidity of formal themes and versification The next generation of writers including Karl Schembri and Immanuel Mifsud widened the tracks further especially in prose and poetry Architecture Lower Barrakka Gardens Maltese architecture has been influenced by many different Mediterranean cultures and British architecture over its history The first settlers on the island constructed Ġgantija one of the oldest manmade freestanding structures in the world The Neolithic temple builders 3800 2500 BC endowed the numerous temples of Malta and Gozo with intricate bas relief designs The Roman period introduced highly decorative mosaic floors marble colonnades and classical statuary remnants of which are beautifully preserved and presented in the Roman Domus a country villa just outside the walls of Mdina The early Christian frescoes that decorate the catacombs beneath Malta reveal a propensity for eastern Byzantine tastes These tastes continued to inform the endeavours of medieval Maltese artists but they were increasingly influenced by the Romanesque and Southern Gothic movements Art Towards the end of the 15th century Maltese artists like their counterparts in Sicily came under the influence of the School of Antonello da Messina which introduced Renaissance ideals and concepts to the decorative arts in Malta The Siege of Malta Flight of the Turks by Matteo Perez d Aleccio The artistic heritage of Malta blossomed under the Knights of St John who brought Italian and Flemish Mannerist painters to decorate their palaces and the churches of these islands most notably Matteo Perez d Aleccio whose works appear in the Magisterial Palace and in the Conventual Church of St John in Valletta and Filippo Paladini who was active in Malta from 1590 to 1595 For many years Mannerism continued to inform the tastes and ideals of local Maltese artists The arrival in Malta of Caravaggio who painted at least seven works during his 15 month stay on these islands further revolutionised local art Two of Caravaggio s most notable works The Beheading of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome Writing are on display in the Conventual Church of St John His legacy is evident in the works of local artists Giulio Cassarino and Stefano Erardi However the Baroque movement that followed was destined to have the most enduring impact on Maltese art and architecture The vault paintings of the Calabrese artist Mattia Preti transformed the Conventual Church St John into a Baroque masterpiece Melchior Gafa emerged as one of the top Baroque sculptors of the Roman School Francesco Noletti s Still Life of Pomegranates Peaches and other Fruits During the 17th and 18th century Neapolitan and Rococo influences emerged in the works of the Italian painters Luca Giordano and Francesco Solimena and these developments can be seen in the work of their Maltese contemporaries such as Gio Nicola Buhagiar and Francesco Zahra The Rococo movement was greatly enhanced by the relocation to Malta of Antoine de Favray who assumed the position of court painter to Grand Master Pinto in 1744 Neo classicism made some inroads among local Maltese artists in the late 18th century but this trend was reversed in the early 19th century as the local Church authorities perhaps in an effort to strengthen Catholic resolve against the perceived threat of Protestantism during the early days of British rule in Malta favoured and avidly promoted the religious themes embraced by the Nazarene movement Romanticism tempered by the naturalism introduced to Malta by Giuseppe Cali informed the salon artists of the early 20th century including Edward and Robert Caruana Dingli Parliament established the National School of Art in the 1920s During the reconstruction period that followed the Second World War the emergence of the Modern Art Group whose members included Josef Kalleya George Preca Anton Inglott Emvin Cremona Frank Portelli Antoine Camilleri Gabriel Caruana and Esprit Barthet greatly enhanced the local art scene This group came together forming an influential pressure group known as the Modern Art Group which played a leading role in the renewal of Maltese art Most of Malta s modern artists have in fact studied in Art institutions in England or on the continent leading to a diversity of artistic expression that has remained characteristic of contemporary Maltese art In Valletta the National Museum of Fine Arts featured work from artists such as H Craig Hanna In 2018 the national collection of fine arts was put on display in the new National Museum of Art MUZA at Auberge d Italie in Valletta Cuisine Pastizzi a typical Maltese snack Maltese cuisine shows strong Sicilian and Italian influences as well as influences of English Spanish Maghrebin and Provencal cuisines A number of regional variations can be noted as well as seasonal variations associated with the seasonal availability of produce and Christian feasts such as Lent Easter and Christmas Food has been important historically in the development of a national identity in particular the traditional fenkata i e the eating of stewed or fried rabbit Potatoes are a staple of the Maltese diet as well A number of grapes are endemic to Malta including Girgentina and Ġellewza There is a strong wine industry with significant production of wines using these native grapes as well as locally grown grapes of other more common varietals A number of wines have achieved Protected Designation of Origin with wines produced from grapes cultivated in Malta and Gozo designated as DOK wines that is Denominazzjoni ta l Oriġini Kontrollata Customs A 2010 Charities Aid Foundation study found that the Maltese were the most generous people in the world with 83 contributing to charity Maltese folktales include various stories about mysterious creatures and supernatural events These were most comprehensively compiled by the scholar and pioneer in Maltese archaeology Manwel Magri in his core criticism Ħrejjef Missirijietna Fables from our Forefathers This collection of material inspired subsequent researchers and academics to gather traditional tales fables and legends from all over the Archipelago While giants witches and dragons feature in many of the stories some contain entirely Maltese creatures like the Kaw kaw Il Belliegħa and L Imħalla among others Traditions Traditional Maltese proverbs reveal cultural importance of childbearing and fertility iz zwieġ mingħajr tarbija ma fihx tgawdija a childless marriage cannot be a happy one This is a belief that Malta shares with many other Mediterranean cultures In Maltese folktales the local variant of the classic closing formula and they all lived happily ever after is u għammru u tgħammru u spiċċat and they lived together and they had children together and the tale is finished Maltese carnival has been celebrated since the 1400s Rural Malta shares in common with the Mediterranean society a number of superstitions regarding fertility menstruation and pregnancy including the avoidance of cemeteries leading up to childbirth and avoiding the preparation of certain foods during menses Pregnant women are encouraged to satisfy their food cravings out of fear that their unborn child will bear a representational birth mark Maltese xewqa literally desire or craving Maltese and Sicilian women also share certain traditions that are believed to predict the sex of an unborn child citation needed Traditionally Maltese newborns were baptised as promptly as possible Traditional Maltese delicacies served at a baptismal feast include biskuttini tal magħmudija almond macaroons it torta tal marmorata a spicy heart shaped tart of chocolate flavoured almond paste and a liqueur known as rozolin made with rose petals violets and almonds citation needed On a child s first birthday in a tradition that still survives today Maltese parents would organise a game known as il quċċija where a variety of symbolic objects would be randomly placed around the child Whichever object the child shows the most interest in is said to reveal the child s path and fortunes in adulthood Traditional Maltese weddings featured the bridal party walking in procession beneath an ornate canopy from the home of the bride s family to the parish church with singers trailing behind il ġilwa New wives would wear the għonnella a traditional item of Maltese clothing Today s couples are married in churches or chapels in the village or town of their choice usually followed by a lavish wedding reception Occasionally couples will try to incorporate elements of the traditional Maltese wedding in their celebration A resurgent interest in the traditional wedding was evident in May 2007 when thousands of Maltese and tourists attended a traditional Maltese wedding in the style of the 16th century in Zurrieq citation needed Festivals and events The statue of St George at the festa of Victoria Gozo Local festivals similar to those in Southern Italy are commonplace in Malta and Gozo celebrating weddings christenings and most prominently saints days On saints days in the morning the festa reaches its apex with a High Mass featuring a sermon on the life and achievements of the patron saint In the evening a statue of the religious patron is taken around the local streets in solemn procession with the faithful following in prayer The atmosphere of religious devotion is preceded by several days of celebration and revelry band marches fireworks and late night parties The largest festa is possibly that of the Assumption of Mary which is celebrated in 8 parishes on the 15 August and in 2 other parishes the following Sunday The statue of Santa Marija at the festa of Mġarr Malta Carnival Maltese il karnival ta Malta has had an important place on the cultural calendar after Grand Master It is held during the week leading up to Ash Wednesday and typically includes masked balls fancy dress and grotesque mask competitions lavish late night parties a colourful ticker tape parade of allegorical floats presided over by King Carnival Maltese ir Re tal Karnival marching bands and costumed revellers Holy Week Maltese il Ġimgħa Mqaddsa starts on Palm Sunday Ħadd il Palm and ends on Easter Sunday Ħadd il Għid Mnarja or l Imnarja pronounced lim nar ya is one of the most important dates on the Maltese cultural calendar Officially it is a national festival dedicated to the feast of Saints Peter and Paul Its roots can be traced back to the pagan Roman feast of Luminaria literally the illumination when torches and bonfires lit up the early summer night of 29 June The festivities still commence today with the reading of the bandu an official governmental announcement which has been read on this day in Malta since the 16th century It is said that under the Knights this was the one day in the year when the Maltese were allowed to hunt and eat wild rabbit which was otherwise reserved for the hunting pleasures of the Knights The close connection between Mnarja and rabbit stew Maltese fenkata remains strong today Holy Week procession in Zebbuġ Isle of MTV is a one day music festival produced and broadcast on an annual basis by MTV The festival has been arranged annually in Malta since 2007 with major pop artists performing each year 2012 saw the performances of worldwide acclaimed artists Flo Rida Nelly Furtado and Will i am Over 50 000 people attended which marked the biggest attendance so far The Malta International Fireworks Festival has been arranged annually in the Grand Harbour of Valletta since 2003 Media The most widely read and financially the strongest newspapers are published by Allied Newspapers Ltd mainly The Times of Malta 27 percent and its Sunday edition The Sunday Times of Malta 51 6 percent citation needed Due to bilingualism half of the newspapers are published in English and the other half in Maltese The Sunday newspaper It Torċa The Torch published by a subsidiary of the General Workers Union is the widest Maltese language paper Its sister paper L Orizzont The Horizon is the Maltese daily with the biggest circulation There is a high number of daily or weekly newspapers one for every 28 000 people Advertising sales and subsidies are the three main methods of financing There are nine terrestrial television channels in Malta TVM TVMNews Parliament TV One NET Television Smash Television and Xejk The state and political parties subsidise most of the funding of these channels TVM TVMNews and Parliament TV are operated by Public Broadcasting Services the national broadcaster and members of the EBU Media link Communications Ltd the owner of NET Television and One Productions Ltd the owner of One are affiliated with the Nationalist and Labour parties respectively The rest are privately owned The Malta Broadcasting Authority has authority to supervise all local broadcasting stations and ensures their compliance with legal and licence obligations as well as the preservation of due impartiality The Malta Communications Authority reported that there were 147 896 pay TV subscriptions active at the end of 2012 For reference the 2011 census counts 139 583 households in Malta Satellite reception is available to receive other European television networks Sport Football soccer is one of the most popular sports in Malta Other popular sports include boċċi horse racing gostra regatta water polo clay pigeon shooting and motorsports In 2018 Malta hosted its first Esports tournament Supernova CS GO Malta a Counter Strike Global Offensive tournament Also since 2018 Malta has become the primary location for hosting the ESL Pro League See alsoMalta portalEU portalEurope portalOutline of Malta Index of Malta related articlesNotes2021 census Chapter 4 Racial originReferencesCitations Gazzetta tal Gvern ta Malta PDF in Maltese 3 September 2019 Archived PDF from the original on 19 September 2020 Retrieved 22 January 2021 Language VisitMalta VisitMalta Archived from the original on 1 October 2023 Retrieved 19 January 2024 Maltese sign language to be recognised as an official language of Malta The Malta Independent Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 11 June 2018 Census of Population and Housing 2021 Final Report Population migration and other social characteristics Volume 1 nso gov mt 16 February 2023 Archived from the original on 4 February 2024 Retrieved 4 February 2024 Census of Population and Housing 2021 Final report Religious Affiliation pages 159 168 PDF nso gov mt Archived from the original PDF on 19 February 2023 Retrieved 22 February 2023 90 Caucasian 83 Roman Catholic Malta census statistics released Times of Malta 16 February 2023 Archived from the original on 22 February 2023 Retrieved 22 February 2023 Zammit Andre 1986 Valletta and the system of human settlements in the Maltese Islands Ekistics 53 316 317 89 95 JSTOR 43620704 Population and migration 2012 2022 including intercensal revisions nso gov mt July 2022 Retrieved 8 July 2024 Report for Selected Countries and Subjects April 2024 Malta imf org International Monetary Fund Gini coefficient of equivalised disposable income EU SILC survey Human Development Report 2023 24 PDF United Nations Development Programme 13 March 2024 Archived PDF from the original on 13 March 2024 Retrieved 13 March 2024 Census of Population and Housing 2021 Volume 1 Final Report PDF nso gov mt 2023 p 116 Archived PDF from the original on 26 June 2023 Retrieved 26 June 2023 Lesley Anne Rose 15 April 2009 Frommer s Malta and Gozo Day by Day John Wiley amp Sons p 139 ISBN 978 0 470 74610 3 Maltese Repubblika ta Malta rɛˈpʊbːlɪkɐ tɐ ˈmɐːltɐ Ashby Thomas 1915 Roman Malta Journal of Roman Studies 5 23 80 doi 10 2307 296290 JSTOR 296290 S2CID 250349579 Archived from the original on 27 March 2021 Retrieved 30 August 2019 Bonanno Anthony ed 2008 Malta and Sicily Miscellaneous research projects PDF Officina di Studi Medievali ISBN 978 88 88615 83 7 Archived from the original PDF on 27 May 2012 Retrieved 23 February 2017 Chapman David Cassar Godwin October 2004 Valletta Cities 21 5 451 463 doi 10 1016 j cities 2004 07 001 ISSN 0264 2751 Simone Beppe 24 January 2018 Valletta begins its journey as European Capital of Culture 2018 Europa Nostra Retrieved 6 December 2024 Sultana Ronald G 1998 Career guidance in Malta A Mediterranean microstate in transition PDF International Journal for the Advancement of Counselling 20 3 doi 10 1023 A 1005386004103 S2CID 49470186 Archived from the original PDF on 2 February 2017 Retrieved 27 January 2017 The Microstate Environmental World Cup Malta vs San Marino Environmentalgraffiti com 15 December 2007 Archived from the original on 25 January 2013 Retrieved 31 March 2009 World Urbanization Prospects Archived 25 May 2017 at the Wayback Machine Department of Economic and Social Affairs Population Division United Nations Table A 2 page 79 Interim Territorial Cohesion Report Archived 23 April 2013 at the Wayback Machine Preliminary results of ESPON and EU Commission studies Terterov Marat Reuvid Jonathan 2005 Doing Business with Malta GMB Publishing p 167 ISBN 978 1 905050 63 5 Creativemalta gov mt Draft National Strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries Creative Malta archived from the original on 28 July 2013 retrieved 17 August 2013 Flags Symbols and their uses Department of Information of Malta archived from the original on 29 June 2015 retrieved 25 February 2019 First inhabitants arrived 700 years earlier than thought Times of Malta Archived from the original on 23 March 2022 Retrieved 25 March 2020 Malta History Language Map People amp Points of Interest Britannica www britannica com 18 July 2024 Retrieved 18 July 2024 Rudolf Uwe Jens Berg Warren G 2010 Historical Dictionary of Malta Scarecrow Press pp 1 11 ISBN 978 0 8108 7390 2 Boissevain Jeremy 1984 Ritual Escalation in Malta In Eric R Wolf ed Religion Power and Protest in Local Communities The Northern Shore of the Mediterranean Walter de Gruyter p 165 ISBN 978 3 11 009777 1 ISSN 1437 5370 George Cross Award Commemoration VisitMalta com 14 April 2015 Archived from the original on 3 April 2015 Retrieved 20 April 2015 Should the George Cross still be on Malta s flag Times of Malta 29 April 2012 Archived from the original on 27 April 2015 Retrieved 20 April 2015 Christmas Broadcast 1967 Archived from the original on 2 May 2015 Retrieved 20 April 2015 European Commission June 2012 Special Eurobarometer 386 Europeans and Their Languages PDF Report Eurobarometer Special Surveys Archived from the original PDF on 6 January 2016 Retrieved 12 February 2015 Malta Skills Survey 2022 Preliminary Report PDF nso gov mt Malta National Statistics Office 15 June 2023 p 40 Archived PDF from the original on 17 June 2023 Retrieved 20 June 2023 Constitution of Malta Ministry for Justice Culture and Local Government Archived from the original on 1 October 2018 Retrieved 10 February 2018 Article 40 all persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship Malta The World Factbook Central Intelligence Agency Archived from the original on 2 April 2021 Retrieved 16 May 2007 Hal Saflieni Hypogeum UNESCO Archived from the original on 30 December 2013 Retrieved 18 January 2014 City of Valletta UNESCO Archived from the original on 25 March 2016 Retrieved 18 January 2014 Megalithic Temples of Malta UNESCO Archived from the original on 7 January 2014 Retrieved 18 January 2014 Malta Temples and The OTS Foundation OTSF Archived from the original on 8 February 2014 Retrieved 31 March 2009 Cilia Daniel 2004 Malta Before History Miranda Publishers ISBN 99909 85 08 1 Vassallo DJ 1992 The Corps Disease Brucellosis and Its Historical Association with the Royal Army Medical Corps PDF Journal of the Royal Army Medical Corps 138 3 140 150 doi 10 1136 jramc 138 03 09 PMID 1453384 S2CID 41069698 Archived PDF from the original on 23 December 2017 Retrieved 24 December 2017 Melita Charlton T Lewis and Charles Short A Latin Dictionary on Perseus Project meli Liddell Henry George Scott Robert A Greek English Lexicon at the Perseus Project Castillo Dennis Angelo 2006 The Maltese Cross A Strategic History of Malta Greenwood Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 313 32329 4 Pickles Tim 1998 Malta 1565 Last Battle of the Crusades Osprey Publishing ISBN 978 1 85532 603 3 Renaming Malta the Republic of Phoenicia The Times of Malta October 2011 Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 28 February 2016 Vella John January 2023 Greek Words in Maltese Harbour Toponymy PDF Athens Journal of Mediterranean Studies vol 9 pp 25 52 archived PDF from the original on 18 April 2024 retrieved 7 April 2024 Oxford English Dictionary s v Malta n and Maltese n amp adj Smith William 1872 John Murray ed A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography Vol II John Murray p 320 700 years added to Malta s history Times of Malta 16 March 2018 Archived from the original on 11 January 2023 Retrieved 11 January 2023 Ariano Bruno Mattiangeli Valeria Breslin Emily M Parkinson Eoin W McLaughlin T Rowan Thompson Jess E Power Ronika K Stock Jay T Mercieca Spiteri Bernardette Stoddart Simon Malone Caroline 20 June 2022 Ancient Maltese genomes and the genetic geography of Neolithic Europe Current Biology 32 12 2668 2680 e6 Bibcode 2022CBio 32E2668A doi 10 1016 j cub 2022 04 069 PMC 9245899 PMID 35588742 A Mifsud C Savona Ventura S Mifsud Palaeolithic Man in the Maltese Islands Archived from the original on 17 January 1999 Retrieved 8 July 2019 a href wiki Template Cite web title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Skeates Robin 2010 An Archaeology of the Senses Prehistoric Malta Oxford University Press pp 124 132 ISBN 978 0 19 921660 4 History Maltese Italian Chamber of Commerce Archived from the original on 8 October 2021 Retrieved 8 October 2021 Old Temples Study Foundation OTSF Archived from the original on 8 February 2014 Retrieved 31 March 2009 Sheehan Sean 2000 Malta Marshall Cavendish ISBN 978 0 7614 0993 9 Archaeology and prehistory Aberystwyth The University of Wales Archived from the original on 12 December 2008 Retrieved 31 March 2009 National Museum of Archaeology Visitmalta com Archived from the original on 29 March 2010 Ancient mystery solved by geographers Port ac uk 20 April 2009 Archived from the original on 29 December 2010 Retrieved 14 November 2010 Mottershead Derek Pearson Alastair Schaefer Martin 2008 The cart ruts of Malta an applied geomorphology approach Antiquity 82 318 1065 1079 doi 10 1017 S0003598X00097787 S2CID 162827926 Cilia Daniel Malta Before Common Era The Megalithic Temples of Malta Archived from the original on 7 June 2020 Retrieved 28 January 2007 Piccolo Salvatore Darvill Timothy 2013 Ancient Stones The Prehistoric Dolmens of Sicily Brazen Head Publishing ISBN 978 0 9565106 2 4 Notable dates in Malta s history Department of Information Maltese Government 6 February 2008 Archived from the original on 25 November 2009 Retrieved 6 February 2008 Culican 1992 Filigheddu 2006 Owen Charles 1969 The Maltese Islands Praeger Terterov Marat 2005 Doing Business with Malta GMB Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 1 905050 63 5 Malta Enciclopedia Italiana in Italian Archived from the original on 1 January 2016 Retrieved 2 November 2015 The Art Journal The Illustrated Catalogue of the Industry of All Nations Vol 2 Virtue 1853 p vii Volume 16 Issue 1 Fondazzjoni Patrimonju Malti Archived from the original on 21 February 2014 Retrieved 16 February 2014 Cassar 2000 pp 56 57 218 BC 395 AD Roman Coinage Bank of Malta Archived from the original on 26 January 2015 Retrieved 2 November 2015 Acts chapter 28 verse 1 Perseus tufts edu Archived from the original on 14 April 2021 Retrieved 20 February 2021 Brown Thomas S 1991 Malta In Kazhdan Alexander ed Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium Oxford University Press p 1277 ISBN 978 0 19 504652 6 Edwards I E S Gadd C J Hammond N G L 1975 The Cambridge Ancient History Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 08691 2 Troll Christian W Hewer C T R 12 September 2012 Journeying toward God Christian Lives Given to the Study of Islam Fordham University Press p 258 ISBN 978 0 8232 4319 8 Brief history of Sicily PDF Archaeology Stanford edu 7 October 2007 Archived PDF from the original on 19 January 2012 Retrieved 20 September 2011 Travel Malta MobileReference The Arab period and the Middle Ages ISBN 978 1 61198 279 4 Brincat Joseph M 1995 Malta 870 1054 Al Himyari s account and its linguistic implications PDF Said International p 21 Archived PDF from the original on 13 December 2021 Retrieved 8 December 2021 Wilson Andrew 2006 Corpus Linguistics Around the World Rodopi ISBN 978 90 420 1836 5 Previte Orton 1971 pg 507 11 Blouet B 1987 The Story of Malta Third Edition Progress Press p 37 Blouet B 1987 The Story of Malta Third Edition Malta Progress Press p 37 38 Martin Robert Montgomery 1843 History of the colonies of the British Empire W H Allen p 569 Malta remained for 72 years subject of the emperors of Germany The island was after the period of Count Roger of the Normans afterward given up to the Germans on account of the marriage between Constance heiress of Sicily and Henry VI son of the Emperor Friedrick Barbarossa Malta was elevated to a county and a marquisate but its trade was now totally ruined and for a considerable period of it remained solely a fortified garrison Time Line AboutMalta com 7 October 2007 Archived from the original on 27 October 2016 Retrieved 23 July 2008 Goodwin Stefan 2002 Malta Mediterranean bridge Greenwood Publishing Group p 31 ISBN 0 89789 820 6 Peregin Christian 4 August 2008 Maltese makeover The Times of Malta Archived from the original on 9 October 2010 Retrieved 28 November 2009 Malta under the Angevins Archived 17 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine melitensiawth com Superintendance of Cultural Heritage Government of Malta Archived from the original on 28 January 2012 Retrieved 29 November 2011 Luttrell Anthony 1970 The House of Aragon and Malta 1282 1412 PDF Journal of the Faculty of Arts 4 2 156 168 Archived from the original PDF on 17 October 2017 Retrieved 8 July 2017 Denaro Victor F 1963 Yet More Houses in Valletta Archived 2 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Melita Historica p 22 de Vertot Abbe 1728 The History of the Knights of Malta vol II facsimile reprint Midsea Books Malta 1989 Malta History Jimdiamondmd com Archived from the original on 8 March 2012 Retrieved 12 October 2008 Malta History 1000 AD present Carnaval com Archived from the original on 4 February 2012 Retrieved 12 October 2008 La cesion de Malta a los Caballeros de San Juan a traves de la cedula del 4 de marzo de 1530 PDF orderofmalta int Archived from the original PDF on 24 September 2015 Retrieved 12 March 2016 LA SOBERANA ORDEN DE MALTA A TRAVES DE DIEZ SIGLOS DE HISTORIA Y SU RELACIoN CON LA ACCIoN HUMANITARIA PDF uma es Archived from the original PDF on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 12 March 2016 El halcon maltes regresara a Espana dos siglos despues Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine El Pais 14 August 2005 Retrieved 1 May 2017 La verdadera historia del halcon maltes Archived from the original on 30 May 2016 El halcon y el mar trofeocaza com 22 October 2014 Archived from the original on 30 May 2016 El Rey volvera a tener otro halcon maltes en primavera Archived from the original on 22 December 2015 Retrieved 12 March 2016 Hospitallers religious order Archived from the original on 1 August 2017 Retrieved 3 July 2017 Devrim Atauz Ayse 2008 Eight thousand years of Maltese maritime history trade piracy and naval warfare in the central Mediterranean University Press of Florida ISBN 978 0 8130 3179 8 a href wiki Template Cite book title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link McManamon John June 2003 Maltese seafaring in mediaeval and post mediaeval times Mediterranean Historical Review 18 1 32 58 doi 10 1080 09518960412331302203 ISSN 0951 8967 S2CID 153559318 Niaz Ilhan 2014 Old World Empires Cultures of Power and Governance in Eurasia Routledge p 399 ISBN 978 1 317 91379 5 Angelo Castillo Dennis 2006 The Maltese Cross A Strategic History of Malta Greenwood Publishing Group p 55 ISBN 978 0 313 32329 4 Braudel Fernand 1995 The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II vol II University of California Press Berkeley Malta Palazzo Parisio gov mt Archived from the original on 6 January 2018 Retrieved 21 August 2015 Napoleon s bedroom at Palazzo Parisio in Valletta maltaweathersite com Archived from the original on 4 March 2016 Retrieved 21 August 2015 Stagno Navarra Karl 24 January 2010 Leaving it in neutral MaltaToday Archived from the original on 16 October 2015 Retrieved 21 August 2015 This day May 15 in Jewish history Cleveland Jewish News Archived from the original on 19 May 2014 Sciberras Sandro Maltese History F The French Occupation PDF St Benedict College Archived from the original PDF on 3 May 2015 Retrieved 23 November 2014 Weider Ben Chapter 12 The Egyptian Campaign of 1798 International Napoleonic Society Archived from the original on 12 March 2016 Shosenberg J W April 2017 NAPOLEON S EGYPTIAN RIDDLE Military History 34 1 25 via Ebsco Schiavone Michael J 2009 Dictionary of Maltese Biographies A F Publikazzjonijiet Indipendenza pp 533 534 ISBN 978 99932 91 32 9 Holland James 2003 Fortress Malta An Island Under Siege 1940 43 Miramax ISBN 978 1 4013 5186 1 Rudolf amp Berg 2010 p 11 Galea Michael 16 November 2014 Malta earns the title nurse of the Mediterranean The Times Archived from the original on 6 February 2016 Malta definition of Malta in the Free Online Encyclopedia Free Online Encyclopedia List of Legal Holidays Archived from the original on 17 June 2013 Retrieved 8 July 2013 SETTE GIUGNO Visitmalta The official tourism website for Malta Gozo and Comino Archived from the original on 30 January 2014 Retrieved 8 July 2013 Independence Archived from the original on 6 September 2012 Bierman John Smith Colin 2002 The Battle of Alamein Turning Point World War II Viking p 36 ISBN 978 0 670 03040 8 Titterton G A 2002 The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean Volume 2 Psychology Press p xiii ISBN 978 0 7146 5179 8 Elliott Peter 1980 The Cross and the Ensign A Naval History of Malta 1798 1979 Naval Institute Press ISBN 978 0 87021 926 9 Calvocoressi Peter 1981 Top Secret Ultra Volume 10 of Ballantine Espionage Intelligence Library reprint ed Ballantine Books pp 42 44 ISBN 978 0 345 30069 0 The Siege of Malta in World War Two Archived from the original on 29 December 2007 Retrieved 15 April 2007 Wolf Eric R 1984 Religion Power and Protest in Local Communities The Northern Shore of the Mediterranean Walter de Gruyter GmbH amp Co KG p 206 ISBN 978 3 11 086116 7 Fenech Dominic February 1997 Malta s external security GeoJournal 41 2 153 163 Bibcode 1997GeoJo 41 153F doi 10 1023 A 1006888926016 S2CID 151123282 Breacher Michael 1997 A Study of Crisis University of Michigan Press p 611 ISBN 978 0 472 10806 0 1989 Malta summit ends Cold War BBC On This Day 3 December 1989 Archived from the original on 3 October 2018 Retrieved 1 October 2014 Malta votes yes to EU membership CNN 9 March 2003 Archived from the original on 13 March 2003 Retrieved 1 October 2014 The History of the European Union 2000 today Archived from the original on 11 October 2007 Retrieved 12 October 2007 Cyprus and Malta set to join eurozone in 2008 Euractiv 16 May 2007 Archived from the original on 30 January 2009 Retrieved 12 October 2007 Mark N Franklin Electoral Participation in Controversies in Voting Behavior Magri Giulia 27 March 2024 Parliament unanimously approves Myriam Spiteri Debono as Malta s next President Times of Malta Retrieved 31 March 2024 Labour s meltdown risk MaltaToday com mt Retrieved 28 January 2025 Malta Transparency org 30 January 2024 Retrieved 28 January 2025 Cummings James 11 February 2025 Malta slips to lowest ever place in international corruption index Times of Malta Retrieved 11 February 2025 Local Council Act of Malta PDF Archived from the original PDF on 16 June 2013 Retrieved 20 October 2013 Protokol Lokali u Reġjonali PDF in Maltese Dipartiment tal Informazzjoni pp 5 6 Archived from the original PDF on 17 June 2012 Retrieved 2 April 2015 Malta PDF Assembly of European Regions Archived from the original PDF on 8 February 2013 Retrieved 2 April 2015 Defence Roles Afm gov mt Archived from the original on 8 May 2019 AFM Operations Centre SAR Region Archived 8 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine Afm gov mt Retrieved 28 December 2019 Armed Forces of Malta Afm gov mt Archived from the original on 26 November 2016 Chapter XXVI Disarmament No 9 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons United Nations Treaty Collection Archived from the original on 6 August 2019 Retrieved 30 October 2020 Nuclear arms prohibition treaty ratified by foreign minister Malta Today 21 September 2020 Archived from the original on 3 November 2020 Retrieved 30 October 2020 Malta ranks first in European rainbow map of LGBTIQ rights MaltaToday com mt Archived from the original on 9 October 2015 Retrieved 3 August 2023 UN equality head praises Malta as beacon of human rights for LGBTIQ issues The Malta Independent 27 September 2017 Archived from the original on 29 September 2017 Retrieved 2 October 2017 Benjamin Butterworth 6 December 2016 Malta just became the first country in Europe to ban gay cure therapy Pink News Archived from the original on 6 December 2016 Equal Opportunities Persons with Disability Act Cap 413 Archived from the original on 18 April 2015 Retrieved 31 May 2019 Malta votes Yes in divorce referendum BBC News Online 29 May 2011 Archived from the original on 1 June 2011 Retrieved 1 June 2011 Parker Jessica Thierij Sira 12 August 2022 Malta The only EU country where abortion is illegal leaves women scared BBC News Online Archived from the original on 2 October 2022 Retrieved 2 October 2022 Kevin Schembri Orland 21 November 2022 Malta proposes bill to ease EU s strictest anti abortion law AP NEWS Archived from the original on 21 November 2022 Retrieved 22 November 2022 Malta to allow abortion but only when woman s life is at risk The Guardian 28 June 2023 ISSN 0261 3077 Retrieved 9 February 2024 Mannion A M Vogiatzakis I N August 2007 Island Landscape Dynamics Examples from the Mediterranean PDF University of Reading Archived from the original on 26 September 2012 Retrieved 20 December 2011 Commission for the Geological Map of the World Geodynamic Map of the Mediterranean Archived from the original on 17 December 2008 Retrieved 28 November 2008 Geothermal Engineering Research Office Malta Archived from the original on 4 April 2016 Falconer William Falconer Thomas 1872 Dissertation on St Paul s Voyage BiblioLife p 50 ISBN 978 1 113 68809 5 Where Is Malta World Map Facts People amp History of Malta Malta Info Guide Retrieved 17 November 2024 Dinerstein Eric et al 2017 An Ecoregion Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm BioScience 67 6 534 545 doi 10 1093 biosci bix014 ISSN 0006 3568 PMC 5451287 PMID 28608869 The Maltese Islands Department of Information Malta Archived from the original on 3 July 2007 Weather of Malta Archived 25 June 2017 at the Wayback Machine MET Office in Malta International Airport Ltd Allied Newspapers 31 December 2014 Updated Snowflakes reported in several parts of Malta Met Office monitoring situation Archived from the original on 30 September 2017 Retrieved 30 September 2017 Valletta Climate Guide Archived from the original on 3 October 2010 Retrieved 5 June 2009 Malta s Climate maltaweather com Archived from the original on 16 October 2015 Retrieved 5 November 2015 Birzebbuġa Malta average sea temperature seatemperature org Archived from the original on 21 March 2015 Valletta Malta Travel Weather Averages Weatherbase com Archived from the original on 3 April 2016 Retrieved 1 June 2015 Climate Data for Luqa National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Retrieved 15 October 2012 Met Office Climate averages 1971 2000 Met Office Archived from the original on 3 March 2016 Retrieved 20 September 2011 Luqa Weather Averages 1991 2020 Meteo climat bzh dyndns org Archived from the original on 25 June 2022 Retrieved 2 June 2015 Malta s Climate Maltaweather com Archived from the original on 6 August 2015 Retrieved 21 October 2013 Population on 1 January by age groups and sex functional urban areas Archived 3 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Eurostat 2015 Population on 1 January by broad age group sex and metropolitan regions Eurostat Archived from the original on 22 August 2016 Retrieved 25 February 2019 Population on 1 January by age groups and sex cities and greater cities Archived 27 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine Eurostat 2015 Population on 1 January by age groups and sex functional urban areas Eurostat 2020 Archived from the original on 3 September 2015 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Population on 1 January by broad age group sex and metropolitan regions 2020 Eurostat 2020 Archived from the original on 22 August 2016 Retrieved 5 March 2022 Creativity Works A report on Malta s Creative Economy strategy for the Cultural and Creative Industries Part 3 PDF Malta Ministry of Finance Ministry of Tourism 2012 p 121 Archived from the original PDF on 11 February 2017 Retrieved 9 February 2017 Malta Archived 7 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine European Central Bank The Global Financial Centres PDF Qatar Financial Centre 2015 Archived from the original PDF on 27 February 2017 Metropolitan areas in Europe Archived 20 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine Federal Institute for Research on Building Urban Affairs and Spatial Development 2011 openknowledge fao org http web archive org web 20240728180427 https openknowledge fao org server api core bitstreams 33a5491a bdfd 48a5 a6aa b79599458add content Archived from the original on 28 July 2024 Retrieved 6 February 2025 a href wiki Template Cite web title Template Cite web cite web a Missing or empty title help Mifsud Stephen 23 August 2002 Wild Plants of Malta Plant Family Index maltawildplants com Retrieved 6 February 2025 State of the Environment Report 2005 Sub report 9 Biodiversity PDF Environment and Resources Authority January 2006 Archived from the original PDF on 7 January 2018 Retrieved 17 January 2020 Mifsud Stephen Wild Plants of Malta and Gozo Main Page Maltawildplants com Archived from the original on 1 February 2019 Retrieved 24 January 2019 Maltese Biodiversity under threat The Malta Independent 13 February 2011 Archived from the original on 24 January 2019 Retrieved 24 January 2019 IMF World Economic Outlook WEO Recovery Risk and Rebalancing October 2010 Table of Contents IMF 6 October 2010 Archived from the original on 30 April 2011 Retrieved 1 June 2011 Economy of Malta Development and Entry to the European Union Malta com Archived from the original on 25 September 2011 Retrieved 8 April 2020 Unprecedented growth for Malta s film industry The Times of Malta 21 July 2010 Archived from the original on 6 October 2014 Retrieved 1 October 2014 Country Trends Global Footprint Network Archived from the original on 8 August 2017 Retrieved 4 June 2020 Lin David Hanscom Laurel Murthy Adeline Galli Alessandro Evans Mikel Neill Evan Mancini MariaSerena Martindill Jon Medouar FatimeZahra Huang Shiyu Wackernagel Mathis 2018 Ecological Footprint Accounting for Countries Updates and Results of the National Footprint Accounts 2012 2018 Resources 7 3 58 Bibcode 2018Resou 7 58L doi 10 3390 resources7030058 Malta Post privatisation gov mt Archived from the original on 17 November 2015 Retrieved 3 April 2020 Maltacom privatisation gov mt Archived from the original on 9 June 2016 Retrieved 3 April 2020 Malta Freeport privatisation gov mt Archived from
