Malta's declining fertility rate is a problem which the country is going to have to tackle.

A Eurostat survey published this month revealed that in 2024, Malta's fertility rate continued to decline. In 2023, the national fertility rate stood at 1.06 live births per woman. This latest survey, featuring data from the following year, shows that Malta has retained the lowest fertility rate among all EU countries, standing at 1.01 live births.

This continues to show the dual, and contrasting, population problem that Malta has.

On the one hand, the rapid population growth Malta experienced over the past years has resulted in infrastructural and construction issues. One can easily mention traffic problems, a public transport system which is not keeping up, poor planning policies that resulted in the rampant overdevelopment in some areas and lack of quality aesthetic design when it comes to building, sewage issues in some areas... the list goes on. This is mainly because while the population grew at a rapid pace, the government did not have the foresight to plan ahead properly for these issues - to have a proper public transport plan to cater for the expected numbers, to redesign planning policies to ensure that areas do not end up overdeveloped or a hotchpotch of different designs leading to the uglification of certain locations etc.

This, even though its economic strategy led to such a population boom due to the need of high numbers of workers to take-up the jobs that were being created.

The government has, however, indicated it is shifting focus. During an interview with this newsroom, Economy Minister Silvio Schembri said that the economic priority for the Labour government in the first five years was to create jobs and start economic activity, while ensuring that the country's finances were brought into place, and mentioned unemployment figures in 2013 and prior. "You can talk all you want about the beautiful things you want to do, but if you don't have the funds to do them, it would remain just talk." In 2023, he said, the next phase began, for the economic strategy to focus more on value added activity than on the creation of jobs. "Since then, in terms of the kind of investment I announced, they are along that line - in the aviation sector, semiconductors, medical technology, pharmaceuticals, digital sector, blockchain, crypto, video game development, esports...If we look at Malta's GDP growth from 2023 forward, we had a big spike in economic growth because we focused more on value added. But we were only able to do so then," he said.

Focusing on high paying less-labour intensive economic sectors has to be the focus now given Malta's small size.

Then on the other side of the coin, Malta has an ageing population issue. Minister for Social Policy and Children's Rights Michael Falzon tabled the 2025 Report of the Pensions Strategy Group last December. The report, led by Permanent Secretary Mark Musu, notes that the review is taking place amid rapid demographic change. Fertility has fallen to 1.06, while life expectancy continues to rise, it read. By 2070, people aged 65 and over are expected to account for 33.6% of the population, and the Old Age Dependency Ratio - the ratio of pensioners to workers - is projected to double within the next 45 years, it was said.

Malta's Fertility rate is actually lower than that according to Eurostat.

This represents a profound problem for the country's future. The government has taken steps, such as the income tax cut for parents who have more than one child, to try and entice people to have more children. But while the effects of this measure will not be known immediately, other issues also need to be tackled. Offering more work-life balance initiatives for instance is one example that could help, and the government has started talking about this. Another issue is the ever-increasing housing prices, where it is difficult for young couples to afford homes big enough for families, which is in turn tied to the ever increasing population issue. Then there is the cost of living.

It is a complex challenge.