Opinion: Here’s Why Malta’s Younger Generation Isn’t Thinking About Having Children, Let Alone Three
According to economic studies done, it was “revealed that today’s Maltese childbearing generation (hey Gen Z’ers) need to have at least three children.” But why is Malta’s birth rate at a steady decline?
With a growing population of Maltese youth emigrating, the government should be asking itself, why?
Now, whether it’s due to lack of seeing a future for themselves here (let alone their children), rising property prices making it almost impossible to own a home in their 20’s, difficulty finding a job that pays enough to live a comfortable life due to inflation and how expensive everything has become… Maybe instead of trying to “convince today’s generation,” the government should make the necessary changes that are beyond needed and prove to them that Malta is a place worth raising our children in.
Raising three children comes at one hell of an expense, let alone more than that. A house that can fit five or more people isn’t cheap and it’s getting more expensive by the season.
Where are we going to build these houses? Or is a block of apartments more fitting? Each higher than the last, making our streets void of character because they need to be ready to move into as soon as can be done, cheapening the look of a place, ironically whilst the price to buy goes up.
Isn’t the country suffocating enough as it is? With traffic no matter how many times the roads are redone, dust everywhere from construction sites on every corner, and the population increasing by almost 150,000 people in the last 15 years.
A change in mindset
The Maltese population are realising that it isn’t fair to subject their children to; a broken system, where it’s who you know which gets you places instead of everyone having a fair path; the lack of opportunities for their children; the lack of bettering the country itself because of misappropriation of funds due to the greed of those in power; and the destruction of our few green spaces and historical landmarks which are turned into commercial buildings, earning a few in government more money.
This generation of young thinkers are smarter than you think, and due to the increase in the usage of social media, which doubles as an information source as to what’s happening globally, we are the most informed generation ever.
Even if we don’t outwardly seek the information we become aware of it. The wars that are currently happening around the world and the growing threat, and actualisation of global warming play a huge part in the decision to not have children for our generation because we have the right to make our own judgement and opinion based on the state of our country and the planet too.
We are also the generation questioning the current economic system more than ever before, due to having the ability to see the way the whole world works, and to put it simply, how it’s literally not working. The fact that we live in a broken system and are told nothing can change because that’s just the way it is, when in reality it’s just the passiveness of a population unwilling to change because we are blinded by party colours and winning over each other as opposed to a change for collective good.
“We are only paying attention to this now because we are at the bottom.”
To that I say, the government should have thought about it before reaching the bottom… maybe the Maltese people who left, wouldn’t have if the country satisfied their needs and wants in life. Now, deal with the consequences. Paying people €1,000 doesn’t cover raising a child and money shouldn’t be the thing swaying people to procreate for your needs.
Is it selfish for our generation to choose not to have children and raise “cats and dogs” instead?
No, I don’t think so. No one has the worldly duty of procreating, there has to be a will to do so and a big part of that is the socio-political time the child-bearers live in, so yes, the economists argument was simplistic, but now I’ve outlined most of, if not all the issues us youngsters are thinking and are uncertain about.
If the government wants to see an increase in the local Maltese population, it has to prove to the Maltese Citizens that the country is worth raising our children in. Paying people to have children is “banal”, if you had a system people were happy to live in, maybe they’d have children on their own accord.
What do other young people, reaching supposed childbearing age, think?
Many of our followers have left their opinions in the comments under our poll asking if they would have three children for Malta’s population, here’s what they had to say:
“The real question should be how the hell could we even afford to?”
“We can’t buy a house, so imagine giving food to 3 kids”
“Is my wage going to triple too???? If yes, I am up for it.”
“3 kids means 1 larger apartment or preferably a house. Kids don’t just need a bedroom to sleep in. Some might say yes, my grandma [and her siblings] were 10 in a room. I do expect if a family has 3 kids they have the same high standards as a family of 4. I have two kids and they keep us busy. To have 3 one parent needs to leave work and focus on the family. Kids have homework, extra curricular activities etc. All this adds up. Less work means less income. So basically what I’m saying is that one has to look at the bigger picture. I do agree the Maltese need to have more kids but it’s more than just increasing population size.”
“Lower the cost of living and I’ll gladly produce 4 or 10 children”
These comments speak for themselves, Malta’s young population are clearly dissatisfied with the economic opportunities available, with most struggling to even buy a house, let alone think about raising three children.
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