Just over 73% of people with Maltese citizenship in Malta can speak at least three languages, a survey has found.
The Malta Skills Survey conducted in the last quarter of 2022 was the first survey carried out at a national level with the intent of producing a skills profile of persons living in Malta. The National Statistics Office published salient findings of the survey on Friday, and said that a more detailed publication is planned to be published in the coming weeks.
Language skills
The Malta Skills Survey included information on languages understood by the target population.
"Over 30 different languages were identified by respondents reflecting the diversity of nationalities residing in the country."
"The three most understood languages were English (96%), followed by Maltese (90.4%) and Italian (62%)." The survey further showed that an average of 35% of non-Maltese citizens had at least a basic knowledge of the Maltese language and 96.6% of the English language at the time of the survey.
"The Northern Harbour and the Northern district registered the lowest number of persons with any knowledge of the Maltese language. Virtually all persons with a tertiary education know English (99.8%), while knowledge of Maltese among the same sub-group is 85%. From the employment point of view, almost nine in every 10 employed persons understands Maltese."
"Looking at languages by age, persons aged 25 to 44 was the group most cognizant with the highest number of languages (three or more languages, 74.3%). Females tend to be more conversant with language used compared to males. Almost three in every four persons with Maltese citizenship (73.4%) know at least three languages.
The survey also covered other skills possessed by the people.
"Respondents were asked to identify skills which they considered themselves to be good at, and which they perceived could be used for work purposes."
The most common skills categories among the target population were Computer and related skills, and Communication, collaboration, and related skills. Each of these broad categories garnered almost a fifth of the total number of skills possessed by the 15-64 population.
"Males were more likely to have higher shares in the skills categories of Construction, Agriculture and fishing, and Tools and machinery. Females, on the other hand, evidenced higher percentages in the categories of Assistance and care, Computing, and Communication and collaboration.
Differences by age group were also noted, with the younger cohort being more knowledgeable in Computer, and Communication and collaboration skills. The older segment of the population tended to lean more towards Assistance and care, and Communication and collaboration skills."
"The survey results reveal that education levels were highly correlated to the type of skill. Persons with a secondary level of education or less were shown to predominate in Assistance and care-related abilities. By contrast, persons having a post-secondary level of education or higher tended to be more into Computer, and Communication and collaboration skills," the NSO said.
Top skills
Of the 10 most common skills possessed by the population, Basic computing came out as the most common skill, with over three-fourths of the population identifying it in their replies. This was followed by two soft skills, namely, supervising a team or group and assisting the public and clients.
Within the artistic and creative sphere, the most highlighted were culinary capabilities, with two out of every 10 persons. Painting/Whitewashing was the most common skill within the Construction category. This particular skill also emerged as fairly popular among females, the NSO said.
"Another ability identified in the survey was the handling of animals which resulted as the most prevalent skill within Agriculture, fishing and related skills, with one in every 10 persons. From the educational standpoint young people (15-24 age group) and persons with a secondary level of education or less were more likely to have this skill compared to other demographic groups."
Within the broad category of Tools, machinery and related skills, the ability associated with operating machinery for the manufacture of products prevailed for the most part. The age group 45-64, females and persons with a secondary educational level or less emerged as more likely to have such a skill compared to other demographic groups, the NSO said.
"Within Assistance, care and related skills, the most common skill was assisting the public and clients, highlighted by almost half of the population."
"Supervisory skills were the most singled out abilities from the Communication, collaboration and related skills category. It was noted that three-fourths of persons having this skill had attained a tertiary level of education."
"Almost one-third of persons in the Information and related skills category identified the gathering of information from physical or electronic sources as a skill, and the data shows its prevalence in almost five out of every 10 persons with a tertiary level of education."
Returning to basic computing skills, apart from being the most common skill within the Computer and related skills category, rudimentary abilities in computer use were estimated to constitute the most common skill overall, the NSO said.