I refer to your report entitled Failed marriages up by 160% in 10 years (TMID, 16 May), in particular that “the number of legal separations alone increased by over 7,000, from just over 4,000 in 1995 to over 11,000 in 2005”.

The National Statistics Office would like to clarify that the figures quoted refer to the number of legally separated persons, and not to the number of legal separations. These figures include non-Maltese residents. Furthermore, the 11,045 legally separated persons constitute a ‘stock position’, a figure which accumulated over the years.

Similarly, your report also confuses the number of marriages which were annulled with the number of annulled persons.

Etienne Caruana

Manager

National Statistics Office

Editorial note: TMID was quoting, word for word, the report by an independent public policy think-tank published by The Today Public Policy Institute.