The total population, including the foreign element resident in the Maltese Islands, stood at 399,867, with 198,099 males and 201,768 females.

Since the last census taken in 1995, the population went up by 4.8 per cent for the Maltese and 5.8 per cent for the total

population.

During the past 10 years, the Maltese and total populations experienced positive yearly increases averaging 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively.

Population changes are the result of two main factors: the difference between births and deaths and the migration balance. The two movements may not necessarily be in the same direction but both the natural and the migration balances have been positive during the past years.

Natural Increase

In 1993, there was a natural increase of 2,455 in the Maltese population. This represented 71 per cent of the total population growth during the year. Ten years later this went down to 830 or 43 per cent. The drop was mainly the result of low fertility rates. Mortality rates did not register any notable fluctuations and migration flows were relatively low throughout the period.

Resident foreign population

During the last 10 years, the incidence of foreigners within the Maltese population, although of minor importance, has increased gradually from 6,730 to 11,000 persons. At the last census held in 1995, the number of foreign residents was 7,213, of whom 3,555 or 49 per cent were British.

Fertility

Most European countries have experienced a decrease in fertility. The case of Malta is a notable example. Ten years ago, the crude birth rate was 14.11; by 2003 it had come down to 10.03, although during the last year there was an increase of about 100 babies over the previous year.

Marriages

There has not been any change in the yearly number of marriages. However, the number of civil marriages has been continually on the increase. In 1993 there were 275 civil marriages out of a total of 2,476. During 2003 there were 2,341 marriages of which 803 were civil; more than 90 per cent of the latter were non-Maltese marrying non-Maltese.

Mortality

Life expectancy showed quite an improvement during the past years, with a noticeable drop in infant mortality rates. In 1993 the infant mortality rate was 8.2 per thousand while in 2003 it stood at 6.0. The number of deaths per year averaged at 2,900 over the past decade.

Other Indicators

The age structure of the Maltese population as at end 2003 shows that the dependency ratio stands at 45.8. The working age population added up to 266,701 persons.

The very-elderly ratio stood at 40.8, while the ageing ratio stands at 59.