Speaking at a seminar on poverty and social exclusion held in a Sliema hotel, Dr Sant admitted there has been a substantial improvement in the quality of life over the past years but poverty still forms part of our country’s social reality. In Malta, today, there are as elsewhere, new forms of poverty.

We cannot tackle poverty from all angles at one and the same time, Dr Sant insisted: such an ambition would not be realistic. This means that priorities have to be chosen. The identification of such priorities leads to moral, economic and social dilemmas.

Dr Sant suggested three areas: poverty among young people, among the elderly and among single parent families. Youth unemployment is a cause of poverty among young people. Fifty-five per cent of those registering for work in Gozo are young people, compared to 41 per cent in Malta.

This problem is linked to illiteracy. These young people who are poor today will most probably remain poor for the rest of their lives.

As for the elderly, there are those who face problems of material poverty but many more face problems of loneliness, another form of poverty.

As for single parent families, poverty is more present here than among other families because their income is much lower. Children in such families have less opportunities than other children.