The  Nationalist Party on Thursday reiterated the urgent need to address the persistent increase in population density in our country.

According to official statistics recently published by the EU's statistical agency, Eurostat, Malta remains the country with the highest population density rate in Europe - with a density that is far higher than that of other EU Member States and also far higher than the European Union average.

The Eurostat report also clearly shows that Malta is among the few countries registering strong year-on-year growth in terms of the number of people living in each square kilometre. Most member states are registering a decrease.

Between 2015 and 2024, Malta's population density increased by around 400 people per square kilometre, the PN said. According to the latest figures in this set of statistics, Malta's population density now stands at almost 1,800 people per square kilometre, compared to around 1,400 people per square kilometre in 2015.

This places Malta, by far, as the country with the highest population density in Europe. This development is the direct result of the Government's policy, under which the importation of foreign workers has continued unabated.

While Malta has 1,800 people per square kilometre, other small countries such as Luxembourg have 262, Cyprus has 106, and Estonia has 32. The EU average stands at 110 people per square kilometre, meaning that Malta's density is 16 times higher than the European average. The country with the closest population density to Malta is the Netherlands, where, however, the number of people per square kilometre, at 530, is less than a third of Malta's.

It is clear that this problem has now become a national urgency. The Labour Government has already been warned repeatedly that the economic model it is pursuing is not sustainable and is having a negative impact on people's quality of life. This urgency is manifesting itself clearly in several areas, including immense pressure on the national infrastructure, seawater contaminated by sewage, congestion and traffic throughout the day, polluted air, noise pollution, overcrowding when accessing basic services and long and unacceptable waiting times to access public services, particularly in the health sector.

The PN insisted that the country cannot continue moving in this direction and, as several social partners have already called for, is demanding immediate action to safeguard the quality of life of Maltese and Gozitan citizens.