Many people have warned that the main reason fewer children are being born is that life has simply become too expensive.

This would be in line with a recent United Nations report which found that financial reasons are the main cause of low fertility rates across the world.

It makes complete sense.

If both parents need to work to make ends meet, will having children simply be deprioritised?

If three-bedroom apartments are out of reach for most families, then how likely is it that they will have a second child?

If the global situation is, as the UN said, represents a “fertility crisis”, then Malta must represent a serious risk of population collapse.

For several years, Malta’s birth rate, currently at just 1.08, has ranked as the lowest in Europe and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana recently described it as the “greatest challenge of our times”.

He wanted that unless the trajectory changes, the native Maltese population will shrink from 406,000 to 336,000 in 25 years’ time, with a higher proportion of elderly people.

The implication was clear – the Maltese risk dying a natural death.

The recipe of expanding benefits has been tried and tested for years. Childcare is free, school transport is free, children’s allowance has increased, and yet the situation remains the same.

If Malta is truly facing an existential demographic crisis, then tinkering at the edges won’t be enough.

We need bold, long-term solutions that make family life affordable and sustainable – from housing to wages to work-life balance. Unless leaders confront these structural issues head-on, no amount of parental leave or bonuses will reverse a birth rate that is dragging Malta toward population decline.