Fighting corruption, Malta’s removal from the FATF grey list and planning and construction issues may be at the top of certain politicians’ agenda but they are certainly not the top priorities for the public, according to recent research.

The survey, commissioned by the University of Malta’s Faculty for Social Wellbeing and carried out by Sagalytics, interviewed 600 people aged 16 and upwards, asking them about a myriad of topics, such as crime, migration, politics and the issues that are most important to them.

Respondents were given a list of twelve different priorities and asked to rank them by importance. The most important issue is ‘strengthening of families’ while the least important is ‘reforms at the correctional facility.’

Also at the bottom of the list were ‘control on planning and construction’, ‘reduction in criminal activities’, and ‘removed from the grey list.’

On the other hand, the second highest priority for respondents was ‘control on the cost of living’ and the third was ‘a clean environment.’

The ‘fight against corruption’ placed eight.

However, in another section of the survey, three quarters of respondents declared that the fight against corruption is a ‘very important’ matter. Most respondents said they are against corruption, withg only 2% saying it is ‘unimportant.’

Respondents took a neutral position when asked if the elected politicians are corrupt or not, although men tended to agree more with the statement than women.

Respondents with the lowest level of education were the ones who least think that elected politicians are corrupt.

35.4% said they ‘strongly disagree’ when asked if they felt comfortable talking to a politiciaqn to help them and given them a preferential service. Female respondents and respondents who are currently inactive feel more comfortable doing so.

High-income earners and people with a higher level of eduation feel less comfortable approaching politicians.