The population in Malta increased by four percent in 2019 to reach 514,564 by the end of the year. Figures by the National Statistics Office show that this is the first time that the population surpassed the half a million mark.
People under the age of 18 account to 16 percent of the total, but resident live births decreased by two percent from the previous year. There were approximately nine birth for every 1,000 residents in 2019, reducing the average fertility rate to 1.14 from 1.42 ten years ago. Meanwhile, the average life expectancy for those born in 2019 stood was 83 years, up from 81 a decade ago.
Migration was a main contributor to population increase, with 20,343 new persons taking up residence in Malta during 2019. Six in every ten migrants were Third Country Nationals, with EU nationals making almost 7,500 of new arrivals.
