The population of Malta grew by 28.6% in a ten year period according to the National Statistics Office (NSO), from 421,464 in 2012 to 542,051 in 2022.

It is by no means a small percentage, especially given Malta’s size. While the Maltese population grew by 1.7% from 398,099 to 404,675, the foreign population grew five-fold, rising from 23,365 in 2012 to 137,376 in 2022, the NSO said.

It is a significant increase, but one which the Labour government did not adequately plan ahead to cater for. The government had based the country’s economic model on growing the population. This meant that as businesses expanded and more and more businesses opened, there weren’t enough locals to fill those jobs, and so companies looked elsewhere.

If that needed to happen then it needed to happen, but there was a lack of planning when it comes to catering for such a steep increase in population numbers.

There was a construction boom, but there was a lack of regulation for the sector. The authorities are still trying to get on top of things, and real action only started being taken after buildings began collapsing, and two people lost their lives. Proper regulation for the sector should have been in place years ago.

Malta’s planning policies were also not adequately updated to ensure the protection of green areas. Malta’s skyline was also not protected, nor was building uniformity on streets, resulting in more hotchpotch construction and pencil developments, as well as ugly designs.

There wasn’t enough focus on upgrading the public transport network, resulting in the traffic jams we see today. There was a focus on road widening, yes, but traffic is still a problem.

There wasn’t enough forward planning for hospital space, and instead of, for instance, refurbishing St Luke’s, Joseph Muscat’s government had opted to sign an agreement with a private company – Vitals Global Healthcare - over three of the country’s hospitals, a company which had no previous experience in managing hospitals. That agreement was deemed to be fraudulent by the court, and with the court of appeal then saying there was collusion.

There also needed to be a focus on more high quality tourism which would mean not having to focus on attracting so many tourists to sustain the sector.

One question comes to mind… was there any real overall vision for the country, or was it just  plans for individual sectors without a clear idea as to what the situation in the country would look like 10-20 years down the line?

Malta could have far better coped with the current population numbers had the government planned ahead better. But… here we are.

The government cannot just play catch-up. It must plan the country’s infrastructure to be able to cope with the Malta of tomorrow. That could mean seriously investing in and upgrading the public transport systems of the country. It could also mean introducing measures that entice people to give up their private cars.

It would also need to look at encouraging more sectors that are not human resource heavy and offer quality jobs to flourish in the country. This would mean, however, investment in ensuring that the expertise in the country are present. The government needs to take a serious look at the country’s economic model, changing as needed.

It also needs to invest in expanding hospital space, and fast, as it is already dealing with space problems now.

Malta is a high population country for its size, and that is not going to change. But, the government must take steps to ensure that the economy would not require further steep growth in population numbers, as it is not sustainable given Malta’s size, while at the same time laying down a clear plan to ensure that everything is in place to cater for the population size, thereby reducing any negative impacts.