The Region Of Malta You Live In Shapes A Shocking Number Of Things
Regional differences in things like education and income are hardly a new concept for many demographers. But these regional variations are expected in large countries where areas are physically hours away from each other. Speaking of regionality in an archipelago that at its greatest extent from the north-western tip of Gozo to the south-eastern tip of Delimara is 45 kilometres long is for some people… unnatural.
Yet, the NSO’s 2017 Regional Statistics report provided an insight into just how stark the variety in the lived experience of Maltese citizens can be across different regions.
Before we start, here are the regional divisions the NSO uses:
If a household is in the Western region, its income is €7,000 more than if it’s in Gozo or the Southern Harbour region
Disposable income is calculated by taking the total income of a household, and deducting social insurance contributions, income tax and inter-household cash transfers.
The Southern Harbour & Gozo also have twice the number of people at risk of poverty than the Western Region
Data plotted from NSO table.
In Gozo and the Southern Harbour regions, 1 in 5 people, 19.9%, are at risk of poverty. By contrast, this number halves to 1 in 10 people by the time you get to the region with the lowest ratio of people at risk of poverty, the Western region (11.4%).
But Gozo has double the graduates per 1,000 inhabitants than some others
The region with the highest number of graduates is Gozo, with 6.1 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 5 (Undergraduate Diploma) 11.9 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 6 (Bachelor’s Degree) and 8.6 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 7 (Master’s Degree). This is double that of the region with the lowest share, the Southern Harbour district, with 3.7 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 5, 6.9 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 6 and 3.5 graduates per 1,000 people at MQF level 7.
The highest number of graduates at MQF level 8 (PhD’s) was registered in the Western district (0.3/1000 people).
Gozo’s workforce is shaped much differently than Malta’s
While 48% of the Maltese workforce is employed full-time in the private sector, only 28% 0f the Gozitan workforce is. By contrast, employment in the public sector is larger in Gozo, with 29% of the workforce working for the government compared to Malta’s 19%.
A larger proportion of Gozitans are also Self Employed, both in full time and part time sectors.
And the benefits they get are also different
A higher proportion of Gozitans than Maltese get a widow’s pension, and a hair more get unemployment assistance and sickness benefit. A higher proportion of Maltese residents get Social assistance, children’s allowance and single parent assistance.
Sex and region can result in a salary difference as large as €6,618
The average citizen earns €16,565 a year. People from the Western region earn on average €18,174 a year, while residents of the Southern Harbour region earn €14,854 a year. The below graph shows a breakdown by sex and region:
Southern Harbour females rake in the lowest salary: an average of €13,404 annually. What’s worse is the fact that this hasn’t increased much over 5 years, to the contrary of some of the other regions. Western region men in contrast earn an average salary of 20,022 – which means the discrepancy between the highest and lowest paid group is €6,618 euros annually.
Women, on average nationally, earn €14,829 annually, while men earn €17,813 annually. Interestingly, even though Gozitan men are the lowest earning group among males, Gozitan women earn more than the national average. This means that the lowest income disparity between men and women is in Gozo, with women on average earning €541 less than men.
Gozo barely registers on most industries
The chart below shows how each industry is distributed across Malta and Gozo.
The chart uses the standard EU NACE codes to identify the industries:
- A – Agriculture and Fishing
- B+C+D+E – Quarrying and mining, manufacturing, water, sewage and waste management
- C – manufacturing, from the previous category, with industries B, D and E omitted
- F – Construction
- G+H+I – Wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles, accommodation and food service industries
- J – IT
- K – Financial and insurance services
- L – Real Estate
- M+N – Scientific and Technical activities
- O+P+Q – Public administration, defence, education and social work
- R+S+T+U – Arts, entertainment, repair of household goods
It becomes obvious that while Gozo’s industry does comprise a health sliver of Agriculture, construction and real estate industries, all other industries pale in comparison. The prominence of all those government jobs in the O+P+Q industry also is evident here.
The number of tourists visiting Gozo is tiny in comparison to Malta
Malta gets the lion share of tourists, with 9 out of 10 holidaymakers staying only on Malta, with only a tenth making their way to Gozo. In 2016, this meant that while 1.9 million tourists visited Malta, only 0.2 million made it to Gozo.
All graphs but one courtesy of the NSO.