An Italian magazine has reported on Malta’s overpopulation, showing disbelief at the number of inhabitants on the small and sunny island.

“Due to overcrowding, the beaches are polluted and the streets are full of waste,” Internazionale wrote.

Internazionale is an Italian weekly magazine founded in Rome in 1993. It has built a reputation as a magazine of reference in a country where international news is “often neglected”.

The magazine regularly publishes articles and opinions from globally known writers and intellectuals, and two days ago it wrote about Malta as part of its Europa settegiorni project.

“Malta is the smallest country in the European Union, but it is also the one with the highest population density: 1,649 inhabitants per square kilometer (Italy has 195 ),” the text reads, seemingly quoting a multilingual video embedded in the article.

“In the last ten years, the population has increased by 25 percent, a growth parallel to the economic one. The construction sector, tourism, and the gambling industry, in fact, have attracted new investments, and also thousands of foreign workers looking for work.”

“Due to overcrowding, the beaches are polluted and the streets are full of waste. A situation that increases unease among residents and endangers immigrants, around 20 percent of the population, who seem increasingly less welcome.”

Gustav Hofer, the foreign journalist looking into the issue, spoke with Maltese political scientist Mario Thomas Vassallo who provided interesting insight into the issue.

“We have diversified the economy, we do not want many children, and so we had to import workers. We increased GDP but if this is done unsustainably it would put money in your pocket but devalue the quality of life,” Vassallo said.

“These are the same people who speak against migrants but then hire Filipinos to take care of their elderly parents. These are the same people who get direct delivery of food to their homes by migrant workers. So there is a little bit of hypocrisy here,” he continued, seemingly talking about racist Maltese citizens.

Meanwhile an EU national and member of Malta Residents Advisory group explained that she has friends who have lived in Malta for around 7/8 years, had children on the island, and built a whole life. But they have been left not knowing what is going on.

“It’s almost as if they want them here until they’re not good anymore and then throw them into the garbage,” she said.

Unfortunately, Internazionale is not wrong. Malta has a big issue when it comes to overcrowding and this has affected the sewage system, power supply, agricultural preservation, racist sentiments, and overall quality of life.

Do you think that Internazionale has a point?