Malta, an island nation in the Mediterranean almost 200 km south of Sicily, is actually comprised of a group of islands quite close to each other, two of which are inhabited: Malta, home to about 480,000 people in 2021, and Gozo, home to about 39,000 people in 2021.1 Though part of the European Union, it lies further south in the Mediterranean than the North African cities of Tunis and Algiers. The country’s primary language, Maltese, is a Semitic language derived from Arabic but written in Latin script.2
National Demographics
Religious Affiliation
Chart source: Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, 2010
Total Population
432,089 1
Urban
94.60% 1
Rural
5.40% 1
Immigrants as % of Population
9.9% 2
Homicides
0.96 per 100,000 people (global median 6.9) 3
Level of Public Corruption
47 (1=lowest, 176=highest corruption) 4
Gender Equality in the Economy, Health, Education and Politics
108 (1=most equal, 144=least equal) 5
Fertility Rate
1.46 births per adult woman 6
Children Who Do Not Live to Age 5
0.60% 6
Life Expectancy at Birth
81 years 6
Adult Literacy Rate
93.31% 6
Internet Users
73% 6
Gross National Income per Capita
US$21,000 6
- 1 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2018). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2018 Revision, Online Edition.
- 2 United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Trends in International Migrant Stock: The 2015 revision.
- 3 United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, Homicide Statistics 2015.
- 4 Transparency International, Corruption Perceptions Index 2016.
- 5 World Economic Forum, The Global Gender Gap Report, 2016.
- 6 UNICEF, State of the World's Children, 2016.
Catholic Demographics
These statistics are derived from the Vatican's official publication, Statistical Yearbook of the Church 2020 (Vatican City: Librera Editrice Vaticana, 2022). The numbers may differ from data reported by other sources on this site.
Baptized Catholics
408,000
Baptized Catholics as % of Total Population
85.19
Baptisms per Year (Under age 7)
2,513
Baptisms per Year (Over age 7)
20
First Communions per Year
2,228
Confirmations per Year
2,872
Students Enrolled in Catholic Primary Schools
7,617
Students Enrolled in Catholic Secondary Schools
8,258
Students Enrolled in Catholic Higher Education
184
Church Marriages per Year
379
Church Marriages in Which Both Spouses are Catholics
376
Priests
716
Women Religious (Nuns & Sisters)
797
Catholics per Priest
569
Parishes
85
Homes for Aged, Handicapped, Invalids
19
