How Much Money You Actually Need To Live A Regular Life In Malta
If you’ve been living in Malta for some time you’ll be well aware that it just seems to keep getting more and more expensive. The cost of living seems to be ever-increasing which leads to one wonder:
But how much do you actually need to earn to live a decent life in Malta?
After doing some research, four main factors are being taken into account – rent, bills, groceries, and being able to afford one night out a week. Transportation and healthcare aren’t being taken into account as they are provided for free for Maltese citizens.
Starting off with rent, a measly one-bedroom apartment varies in cost depending on where you want to live.
For a location in the North like St. Paul’s Bay, rent would set you back some €600 a month, and for a central location like Birkirkara or Msida, it would account for €700. A cheaper alternative would be a location in the south of Malta like Marsaskala, which would be about €550 a month.
Then you’ve got bills to pay; these would include water, electricity, phone bills, WiFi as well as any other subscriptions like Netflix and Spotify. For simplicity’s sake, let’s take this total cost to be €100 a month.
After paying your bills, you’ve got to feed yourself somehow. Grocery prices have been hotly debated and complained about for ages now. Depending on where you go grocery shopping and what you actually end up buying, groceries could amount to anywhere between €150 to €300 a month.
Lastly, after slaving away at work all week, it’s only fair that you afford yourself one night out a week. This can be substituted for a takeaway dinner or food on lunch break. Even this can set you back anywhere between €100 to €200 a month.
After adding up all the costs it could cost anywhere between €900 to €1,350 a month just to live. That would mean you would need to earn a gross salary of anywhere between €12,500 to €20,000 a year.
Even if you opted for the cheapest option in every case, in order to earn €900 a month you would need to earn €5.16 an hour. This may not seem like a lot, however it takes on a new perspective when you consider the minimum wage in Malta for 2023 is just €4.20 an hour.
Perhaps this is why so many Maltese put off moving out and opt to live with their parents. Even if they manage to earn somewhere in the previous range, you can ask what kind of existence even is that?
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