The percentage of children who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion is far too high.

Eurostat released data last week which shows that in Malta, last year, 25.9% of children were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This is the highest percentage since 2017, when it stood at over 27%. So the percentage has been on the rise over the past years.

Indeed, Malta's percentage is higher than the EU average. In some countries like Slovenia, Cyprus and Czechia, the percentage is below 16%.

The percentage of people who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion encompasses people who are in at least one of these three situations: 1) people who are at risk of poverty, meaning those with an equivalised disposable income that is below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold; 2) people who suffer from severe material and social deprivation, meaning those who cannot afford at least seven out of thirteen deprivation items (six related to the individual and seven related to the household) that are considered by most people to be desirable or even necessary to lead an adequate quality of life - these include capacity to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian equivalent every second day, have access to a car/van for personal use, having internet connection, having regular leisure activities etc.; 3) people (aged less than 65 years) living in a household with very low work intensity, meaning those living in households where adults worked equal to or less than 20% of their total combined work-time potential during the previous twelve months.

The National Statistics Office had issued more detailed data for Malta, and one statistic regards the at risk of poverty rate for the country in 2024. 24.1% of people under the age of 18 fall into this category.

This of course paints a worrying picture.

Malta's economy is meant to be booming, yet the aforementioned statistics paint a concerning story. Why are such a high percentage of children in this situation? It is a point that requires further government study.

The NSO did find, however, that members of single person households with one or more dependent children were noted to be more susceptible to being at-risk-of-poverty. Perhaps more targeted government support could be introduced to help these families.

Malta is in a situation where its fertility rate stands as the lowest in the European Union, at just 1.08. Finance Minister Clyde Caruana was reported by the Times of Malta as saying that the country needs to take urgent, drastic and expensive action to reverse the worrying downward trajectory of its native population numbers.

But such a high percentage of children being at risk of poverty could be one of the indicators as to why more people are not having more children. Their families would also be in the same situation, which would mean that income is a problem. The Prime Minister often likes to boast that Malta's economy is doing well. But the benefits are clearly not being felt by everyone. If so many children are at risk of poverty when Malta's economy is growing, doesn't that show that the wealth is not reaching a segment of the population enough? It does, and the Prime Minister needs to acknowledge this more. This is something the government must take into consideration when considering more targeted support measures.