Watch: Robert Abela Admits Low Birth Rate ‘One Of Malta’s Greatest Challenges’
Prime Minister Robert Abela admitted that demographic change as a result of Malta’s low birth rate is one of the nation’s “greatest challenges”.
“We have an ageing population with a low birth rate,” Abela told a PL event yesterday. “Meanwhile, the labour market is constantly crying out for more workers.”
Abela said the solution to Malta’s low birth rate doesn’t lie in importing more foreign workers but in offering targeted incentives for women to have more babies. However, he declined to state what these incentives should consist of.
Recent statistics show that Malta has the lowest fertility rate in the EU, with only 1.08 live births per woman. Around a third of children born in Malta in 2022 were to foreign-born mothers, while two-thirds were born to native-born mothers.
How should Malta tackle its low birth problem?
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