Malta
Name
| Official name | Republic of Malta — Repubblika ta' Malta |
|---|---|
| Former names | The State of Malta (1964–74), the Dominion under the Queen; the Crown Colony of Malta (1813–1964); the Knights' Malta (1530–1798); Melite of Rome and the Greeks; Malitah of the Arabs |
| Demonym | Maltese |
| Meaning of the name | Melite, the Greek and Roman name — from meli, honey, the island's bees, or from the Phoenician maleth, a refuge, the harbor; Malta from the Latin by way of the Arabic |
| Motto | "Virtute et constantia" — by valor and constancy; on the arms of the Order of Merit |
Quick facts
| Capital | Valletta — the Knights' city of 1566 on the Sciberras peninsula, the capital since 1571, a World Heritage site whole; about 5,000 within the walls, the smallest capital of the EU |
|---|---|
| Largest cities | Birkirkara, about 25,000, the largest; Mosta of the dome; Qormi; St. Paul's Bay, the fastest-growing, of the foreign workers; Sliema and St. Julian's of the towers and the nightlife; Żabbar; Naxxar; Fgura; Victoria (Rabat), the town of Gozo; the whole a conurbation of the harbor |
| Official languages | Maltese — the national language, Semitic of the Arabic of Sicily with a third of its words from Italian and English, the only Semitic language written in Latin letters and the only one official in the European Union; English — the second official language, of the law, the university and business; Italian understood by most from the television |
| Currency | Euro — EUR, €; since 1 January 2008, replacing the Maltese lira at 0.4293 |
| Time zone | Central European Time, UTC+1; summer time UTC+2 |
| Calling code | +356 |
| Internet domain | .mt |
| ISO 3166 codes | MT · MLT · 470 |
| Vehicle registration code | M |
| Driving side | Left |
| Electricity | 230 V, 50 Hz; plug type G |
| Independence | 21 September 1964, from the United Kingdom, George Borg Olivier the prime minister; a republic 13 December 1974 under Dom Mintoff; the last British forces gone 31 March 1979, Freedom Day |
| National days | Five — 21 September, Independence Day; 13 December, Republic Day; 31 March, Freedom Day; 7 June, Sette Giugno, for the riots of 1919; 8 September, Victory Day, for the end of the Great Siege in 1565 and the Italian surrender of 1943, the feast of Our Lady of Victories; the festas of the parishes all summer; 10 February, St. Paul's Shipwreck; 29 June, Mnarja |
| Constitution | 21 September 1964 — the Independence Constitution, amended into the republic of 1974, for neutrality in 1987, for the EU in 2003, for the president elected by two-thirds and the gender mechanism in 2020: a parliamentary republic with the Catholic faith as the religion of Malta in Article 2, the House of Representatives of 65 members and up to 14 more, the Constitutional Court |
| Population | 519,562 at the census of 2021; 588,254 at the end of 2025 (NSO) — 69% Maltese, 31% foreign nationals; up 2.4% in 2025; from 315,000 in 1964 |
| Area | 316 km² (122 sq mi) — Malta 246 km², Gozo 67 km², Comino 3.5 km²; the smallest country of the EU |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | Two vertical bands of white and red with the George Cross edged in red in the canton — the white and red the colors of the islands since the Norman count Roger I by the legend and of the Knights' Order by the fact; the George Cross the medal George VI gave "to the island fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history" on 15 April 1942 in the siege; adopted at independence on 21 September 1964, the cross on a blue canton from 1943 to 1964.Flag of Malta |
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| Coat of arms | The shield of the flag under a mural crown of gold with a sally port and eight turrets, the crown of Valletta, within an olive branch and a palm branch tied with a white ribbon bearing "Repubblika ta' Malta"; adopted 28 October 1988 after the arms of the boat and the prickly pear of Mintoff's republic of 1975 |
| National anthem | "L-Innu Malti" ("The Maltese Hymn") — words by Dun Karm Psaila, the national poet, music by Robert Samut, first sung 27 December 1922 and made the anthem in 1941, written into the Constitution of 1964; a prayer, "Lil din l-art ħelwa, l-Omm li tatna isimha" — to this sweet land, the mother that gave us our name |
| National motto | "Virtute et constantia" |
| National colors | White and red |
| National bird | The blue rock thrush — il-Merill, the bird of the cliffs, on the old lira coins; declared 1971 |
| National plant | The Maltese rock-centaury — Widnet il-Baħar, Cheirolophus crassifolius, the pink flower of the sea cliffs found nowhere else on earth; declared 1971 |
| National tree | The sandarac gum tree — the Għargħar, Tetraclinis articulata, the cypress-like tree of North Africa's last European stand at Malta; declared 1992 |
| National animal | The Pharaoh Hound — the Kelb tal-Fenek, the rabbit dog of the farms, on the old coins; widely cited |
| National dish | Stuffat tal-fenek — the rabbit stew in wine and garlic of the Sunday fenkata; pastizzi, the ricotta and pea pastries of every corner; ftira, the ring bread on the UNESCO list; ġbejniet, the sheep cheeselets of Gozo; timpana; the Kinnie and the Cisk; widely cited |
| National sport | Football, the Malta of the 1975 win over Greece and the Euro qualifiers' points, the league since 1909; water polo of the harbor clubs; bocci; the regattas of the Grand Harbour on the national days; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag and the anthem are fixed by the Constitution; the arms by the law of 1988; the bird, plant and tree by declarations; the animal, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | The central Mediterranean, 80 km south of Sicily, 280 km north of Libya and 290 km east of Tunisia — the crossroads of the sea, in the Strait of Sicily; the southernmost country of the EU |
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| Land borders | None — an archipelago; the maritime boundary with Italy and the continental shelf fight with Libya of the 1980s settled at the International Court of Justice in 1985 |
| Coastline | 197 km (122 mi) on Malta and 56 km on Gozo — the Grand Harbour, the finest natural harbor of the sea, Marsamxett and Marsaxlokk; the cliffs of Dingli and Ta' Ċenċ; the Blue Lagoon of Comino, the Blue Grotto, the Azure Window of Gozo fallen into the sea on 8 March 2017; the sandy bays of the north |
| Highest point | Ta' Dmejrek, 253 m (830 ft), on the Dingli Cliffs |
| Lowest point | The Mediterranean, 0 m |
| Mean elevation | About 60 m (200 ft) |
| Rivers and lakes | None — no permanent river; the wieds, the dry valleys of the winter torrents, Wied il-Għasel and Wied Qirda; the Għadira pool of Mellieħa the one wetland, a bird reserve; the water from the aquifer and the three desalination plants that make three-fifths of it |
| Terrain | A slab of limestone tilted to the northeast — the coralline plateau of the west breaking in cliffs, the globigerina of the towns and the temples, the terraced fields of the rubble walls; Gozo greener with its flat-topped hills of Xagħra and Nadur and the citadel of Victoria; Comino a rock of 3.5 km² with three residents; the islets of Cominotto, Filfla, the St. Paul's Islands, Fungus Rock |
| Climate | Mediterranean — hot dry summers with the sirocco from Africa and mild wet winters, about 550 mm of rain between October and March; 43.8°C at Luqa in 1999; the heat of July 2023 that blacked out the island; no frost |
| Natural hazards | Drought; the storms of the gregale of February; the sea's rise on the low shore; the earthquake of 1693 from Sicily; the water shortage of the summers; the overcrowding of the Blue Lagoon and the building cranes of the Sliema shore, the country's fight of the 2020s |
| Natural resources | Limestone — the globigerina that built everything from the temples to Valletta; salt of the pans of Gozo; the sun for the solar; the harbors; the sea; no oil found in the drilling of decades |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 32% — the terraces of the potatoes, tomatoes, vines and the Gozo cheeses; forest about 1%, the Buskett woods; a third of the land built on |
| Protected areas | The Majjistral Nature and History Park of 2007 in the northwest, the only national park; the Buskett gardens of the Knights; the Comino and the Għadira reserves; the Dwejra of Gozo; the marine parks of the Rdum Majjiesa; Filfla, the seabird island, closed to all |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 3 — the City of Valletta (1980), the 320 monuments of the Knights within a square kilometer; the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum (1980), the underground temple of the dead cut from the rock about 3300 BC with its Sleeping Lady, 80 visitors a day; the Megalithic Temples of Malta (1980, extended 1992) — Ġgantija of Gozo, about 3600 BC, the oldest free-standing structures on earth, Ħaġar Qim, Mnajdra, Tarxien, Ta' Ħaġrat and Skorba; the Għana folk singing (2021), the ftira (2020) and the village festa (2023) on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 68 local councils — 54 on Malta, 14 on Gozo — since the Local Councils Act of 1993, in six regions since 2022: Gozo, Northern, Eastern, Western, Port and Southern; the 13 electoral districts; Gozo with its own ministry and the promise of the 2026 campaign to make it a region of law |
People
| Population | 519,562 (census of 2021); 588,254 (end of 2025, NSO) |
|---|---|
| Population density | About 1,860 per km² (4,820 per sq mi) — the highest of the EU and among the highest in the world; Sliema and Senglea above 20,000 |
| Population growth | 2.4% in 2025, all of it migration — the net migration of 13,906, 78% of it from outside the EU; the natural increase near zero; the projection of 636,000 by 2030 |
| Median age | About 42 years — the Maltese older, the foreigners in their twenties and thirties |
| Life expectancy | About 84 years — 82 for men, 85 for women, among the longest of the EU |
| Fertility rate | About 1.1 births per woman — the lowest in the European Union |
| Urban population | About 95% |
| Adult literacy | About 95% |
| Nationalities | Maltese 69%, the people of the islands, of Sicilian, Italian, Arab and Norman descent and Phoenician in the legend; foreign nationals 31% (end of 2025) — the Italians, Britons and other EU citizens about a third of them, the Indians, Nepalis, Filipinos, Serbs, Colombians and Syrians of the hotels, the taxis, the care homes and the building sites the rest; the Maltese citizens projected to fall by a seventh by 2050 as the foreign share rises |
| Languages | Maltese by about 90% of the Maltese as a first language, English by nearly all as the second and by the foreigners as the common tongue; Italian by two-thirds; the Gozitan dialect |
| Religion | Roman Catholic about 80% by the surveys — the religion of the state under the Constitution and of the 365 churches of the saying, the parish festas of fireworks and band clubs, the St. Paul of the shipwreck of A.D. 60, the church weddings that fall each year; Muslim about 3%, Orthodox and Protestant of the newcomers, none about 5%; divorce by the referendum of 28 May 2011, cannabis legal since 2021, abortion allowed only to save the mother's life since 2023, same-sex marriage since 2017 |
| Human Development Index | 0.924 (2023 data, 2025 report) — very high; about 24th of 193 |
| The foreign workers | The economy's engine and the election's issue — about a third of the workforce foreign, nearly half by 2035 by the central bank's projection, the third-country workers of the "Int Malta / Int India" jokes of the campaign of 2026, the housing rents doubled in a decade, the roads jammed, the identity question of the far right's Aħwa Maltin and its 0.6%; the golden passports of 2014–25, about 1,500 sold to Russians, Chinese and Saudis among others, ended by the EU court |
| Sport | Football, the national game, the Maltese Premier League since 1909, Hibernians, Valletta and Floriana, the 1975 win over Greece and the draws with Italy; water polo of Neptunes and Sliema; the shooting and the rowing; the Small States Games hosted in 2023; the Malta Marathon; no Olympic medal ever |
| Diaspora | About 1 million of Maltese descent abroad — Australia first, some 200,000 in Melbourne and Sydney from the emigration of the 1950s and 1960s when a third of the people left, Canada, Britain, the United States; the Maltese of Tunisia and Egypt of the 1800s |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary parliamentary republic under the Constitution of 1964 — the president elected by two-thirds of the House for five years as head of state; the prime minister the leader of the majority, head of government; the House of Representatives; the Constitutional Court and the Court of Appeal; a two-party democracy of the highest turnouts in the world |
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| President | Myriam Spiteri Debono, since 4 April 2024 — the eleventh president, the second woman; born 12 September 1952 at Ħal Kirkop, a lawyer of the Labour Party, the Speaker of the House of 1996–98; the first elected under the reform of 2020 that requires two-thirds of the House, the Nationalists' votes with Labour's; her term to 2029 |
| Prime Minister | Robert Abela (Labour Party — Partit Laburista), since 13 January 2020 — the fourteenth; born 7 December 1977 at Sliema, the son of President George Abela, a lawyer, elected the party's leader by the members on 11 January 2020 after Joseph Muscat resigned in the crisis of the Caruana Galizia murder; the winner of 2022 and of the snap election of 30 May 2026, sworn in for a third term on 1 June 2026 and his cabinet of 3 June; "the national interest dictated" the timing, he said, the Iran war his stated reason, the Fenech trial "absolutely never a criterion" |
| The 2026 election | Called 27 April 2026 for 30 May, nine months before the term's end, after the deal to take Manoel Island back from its developers and in the war in Iran, "a new mandate" for the geopolitics, the prime minister said; the critics' timing, the trial of Yorgen Fenech due in July — Labour 158,444 votes, 51.77%, and 36 seats elected; the Nationalist Party of Alex Borg 136,723, 44.68%, and 29, with two more by the proportionality mechanism; 42 and 37 of the 79 after the gender mechanism added six women to each; Momentum of Arnold Cassola 1.5%, the Greens 1.3%, Aħwa Maltin 0.6%; turnout 87.47% of 356,832 voters, the vote at 16 since 2018; the gap of 21,721 from 39,474 in 2022, the Nationalists ahead in Gozo and the north, Labour in the south; the first party to win four consecutive elections; Borg's concession and his "the work continues" |
| The Caruana Galizia case | Daphne Caruana Galizia, the journalist of the Running Commentary blog who exposed the Panama companies of the prime minister's men and the offshore 17 Black of the Electrogas power deal, killed by a car bomb at Bidnija on 16 October 2017; the Degiorgio brothers sentenced to 40 years in 2022 and Vincent Muscat to 15 in 2021 for the bomb, the middleman Melvin Theuma pardoned to testify; the public inquiry of 29 July 2021 that found the state "should bear responsibility" for a "climate of impunity"; Yorgen Fenech, the owner of 17 Black and the Tumas Group, arrested on his yacht on 20 November 2019, bailed 24 January 2025, tried from 1 July 2026 for 55 days with more than 100 witnesses, and ACQUITTED of complicity and conspiracy by a jury of eight to one on 2 September 2026 — the prosecution's appeal filed on the points of law, the verdict itself beyond challenge; "justice has once again been denied," the press-freedom bodies said, the family's "the state failed"; the government's respect for the jury, the culture minister's doubt that she was killed for her journalism the outcry of the week; the urgent sitting of the House on the inquiry's recommendations; the government of Joseph Muscat fallen in the protests of December 2019 |
| Parliament | The House of Representatives — Il-Kamra tad-Deputati — 65 members elected for five years from 13 five-seat districts by the single transferable vote, with up to four seats added for proportionality and twelve for the under-represented sex since 2022, 79 in all; Labour 42, Nationalists 37; the Speaker elected by the House; the new parliament house of Renzo Piano at the City Gate of 2015 |
| The next election | The general election due by June 2031; the local councils and the European Parliament in 2029 |
| The opposition | The Nationalist Party — Partit Nazzjonalista — of Alex Borg, the Gozitan of 30 elected leader on 6 September 2025 and sworn Leader of the Opposition on 10 September, the fifth leader since the party's loss of 2013 after Simon Busuttil, Adrian Delia and Bernard Grech; the party of Fenech Adami and the EU entry; its gain of three points in 2026 |
| Corruption and the courts | Joseph Muscat, prime minister 2013–20, charged in May 2024 with corruption and money laundering in the Vitals hospitals privatization with Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri, the trial pending, the charges "a frame-up" in his words; the passports scheme of 2014 that sold citizenship for €600,000 and more, ruled a breach of EU law by the Court of Justice on 29 April 2025 and closed; the FATF grey list of June 2021 to June 2022; Pilatus Bank; the Electrogas contract; the Manoel Island deal reversed in 2026 |
| Legal system | Civil law of the Napoleonic code with the English common law of the courts and procedure — the Code de Rohan of the Knights beneath; the Constitutional Court; jury trials of nine, eight votes enough for the "effectively unanimous"; the death penalty abolished 2000; the Ombudsman; the Commissioner for Standards |
| Local government | 68 local councils elected every five years, last on 8 June 2024 with the European vote; the mayors; the Gozo ministry and the Gozo Regional Council; Valletta's council in the Knights' city |
| Neutrality and defense | Neutral by the Constitution since 1987, "actively pursuing peace" and refusing foreign bases — the British base closed 31 March 1979 after 179 years; the Armed Forces of Malta of about 2,000 with the patrol boats and the helicopters of the rescue zone, the largest of the sea; the Libya crossings and the migrants of the central route, the pushback disputes; the Iran war of 2026 and the LNG tanker hit off the coast on 4 March 2026; the Partnership for Peace of NATO since 2008 |
| European Union | Member since 1 May 2004 after the referendum of 8 March 2003 with 53.6%; the eurozone since 2008, Schengen since 21 December 2007; the presidency of the Council in the first half of 2017; six seats of the European Parliament, the smallest state with the most weight by the head; the passports case and the rule-of-law reports; Roberta Metsola of the Nationalists the president of the European Parliament since 2022, the first Maltese |
| United Nations | Member since 1 December 1964; the seat on the Security Council of 2023–24 and its presidency of February 2023 and April 2024; the Law of the Sea born of Arvid Pardo's speech of 1967 that made the seabed "the common heritage of mankind" |
| Other memberships | The Commonwealth, the summit of 2015 at Valletta; the Council of Europe (1965); the OSCE, its chair of 2024; the Union for the Mediterranean; the Non-Aligned Movement of the Mintoff years; the summit of Bush and Gorbachev of 2–3 December 1989 in the Marsaxlokk swell that declared the Cold War over |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$27 billion (2025, IMF) |
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| GDP per capita | About US$46,000 (2025) — above the EU average since 2020 |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$70,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 4% in 2025 and 3.9% in the first quarter of 2026, the fastest of the eurozone, 1.7% by the head — 6% in 2024; inflation about 2%; unemployment about 3%, among the lowest in the EU |
| Economy by sector | Services about 88%, industry about 11%, agriculture under 1% |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) |
| Gaming and the finance | The online gambling capital of Europe since the law of 2004 — about 300 companies licensed by the Malta Gaming Authority, Betsson, Kindred and the rest, about a tenth of GDP and 10,000 jobs; the financial services of the tax-refund system that brings the effective rate to 5%, the funds and the insurers, the grey list of 2021–22; the crypto law of 2018; the ship and aircraft registries; the medical cannabis and the pharmaceuticals |
| Tourism | About 3.6 million visitors in 2024 and 4 million in 2025, seven times the population, the record year on year — Britons, Italians, Germans and French for the sun, Valletta, Mdina, Gozo, the Blue Lagoon and the diving; the English-language schools; the cruise ships of the Grand Harbour, about a million; the summer of 2026 dented by the Iran war's flights |
| Industry | STMicroelectronics at Kirkop, the chip plant of 1981 that is the largest exporter; the pharmaceuticals of Teva and the generics; the Playmobil factory of 1971; the aircraft maintenance of Lufthansa Technik; the Malta Freeport; the shipyards of the Knights and the British, Palumbo now; the Cisk brewery of 1929 |
| Shipping | The Malta flag — the largest ship registry of Europe and the sixth in the world, about 9,000 ships of 90 million gross tons; the Freeport at Marsaxlokk, the third transshipment port of the Mediterranean, about 3 million containers; the Grand Harbour of the cruise ships and the ferries; the yacht marinas of Msida and Vittoriosa |
| Energy | Imported — the Sicily interconnector of 2015 that carries a third of the power and the second one of the campaign promises, a third for €600 million; the Delimara plant of Electrogas of 2017 on LNG shipped in, the contract of the Caruana Galizia investigations; the blackouts of July 2023 in the heat; the offshore wind of the plans; the energy subsidies of about €400 million a year since 2022 that hold the bills, the Nationalists' promise to cut them by a third |
| Public finances | Public debt about 48% of GDP; the deficit about 3.5%, above the EU's limit under the subsidies; the pensions raised each budget; the cost of living the vote of 2026 with wages stagnant since 2018 by KPMG's count; the AAA no longer, A+ by Fitch |
| Income classification | High income (World Bank) — the developed economy of the EU's smallest state |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airport | Malta International Airport at Luqa — about 9 million passengers (2025), sixteen times the population, the new terminal building rising; the Gozo heliport and the Gozo airstrip of the plans |
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| Airlines | KM Malta Airlines, the state carrier of 31 March 2024 that replaced Air Malta of 1973 after the EU refused a rescue; Ryanair the largest at Luqa; the Wizz Air and easyJet; the seaplanes gone |
| Ferries | The Gozo Channel ferries of Ċirkewwa to Mġarr every 45 minutes, free for foot passengers under the promise of 2026; the fast ferries of Valletta to Gozo since 2021; the Virtu ferry to Sicily; the Comino boats; the harbor ferries of Sliema and the Three Cities |
| Main ports | The Grand Harbour of Valletta, the cruise port and the ferry terminal, the anchorage of every navy since the Phoenicians; the Freeport of Marsaxlokk; Marsamxett of the yachts |
| Railways | None — the Malta Railway of 1883 from Valletta to Mdina closed 31 March 1931; the metro of the 2021 plan of three lines unbuilt; the tunnel to Gozo of 2019 shelved |
| Roads | About 2,900 km (1,800 mi), all paved; the Marsa junction and the Central Link of the 2020s; about 450,000 vehicles, the most per head in the EU, the jams the daily complaint; the buses of Malta Public Transport free for residents with the Tallinja card since 1 October 2022; the driving on the left |
History in dates
| c. 5900 BC | The first farmers from Sicily |
|---|---|
| c. 3600 BC | Ġgantija — the oldest free-standing buildings on earth |
| c. 800 BC | The Phoenicians |
| 218 BC | Rome takes Melite |
| A.D. 60 | St. Paul shipwrecked |
| 870 | The Arabs take the island |
| 1091 | Count Roger the Norman |
| 1530 | The Knights of St. John — for a falcon a year |
| 1565 | The Great Siege, 18 May – 8 September |
| 1566 | Valletta founded, 28 March |
| 1798 | Napoleon takes Malta, 12 June; the revolt |
| 1800 | The British, 5 September |
| 1814 | A British colony — the Treaty of Paris |
| 1919 | Sette Giugno, 7 June — four killed |
| 1921 | Self-government |
| 1942 | The siege — the George Cross, 15 April |
| 1964 | Independence, 21 September |
| 1974 | The republic, 13 December |
| 1979 | The British base closes, 31 March |
| 1987 | Neutrality in the Constitution |
| 1989 | Bush and Gorbachev at Marsaxlokk, 2–3 December |
| 2003 | The EU referendum, 8 March — 53.6% yes |
| 2004 | The European Union, 1 May |
| 2008 | The euro, 1 January |
| 2011 | Divorce by referendum, 28 May |
| 2013 | Muscat prime minister — Labour after 15 years |
| 2017 | Daphne Caruana Galizia killed, 16 October |
| 2019 | Fenech arrested, 20 November; the protests; Muscat resigns |
| 2020 | Abela prime minister, 13 January |
| 2021 | The inquiry's verdict, 29 July; cannabis legal, 14 December |
| 2022 | Labour re-elected, 26 March |
| 2024 | Spiteri Debono president, 4 April; Muscat charged, May |
| 2025 | The passports struck down, 29 April; Borg leads the PN, 6 September |
| 2026 | The snap election, 30 May — Labour's fourth; Abela sworn, 1 June; the trial, 1 July; Fenech acquitted, 2 September |
Records & firsts
| The oldest free-standing structures on earth | Ġgantija, about 3600 BC |
|---|---|
| The only country awarded the George Cross | 15 April 1942 |
| The most densely peopled country of the EU | About 1,860 per km² |
| The smallest EU state and capital | 316 km²; Valletta |
| The lowest birth rate in the EU | About 1.1 |
| The only Semitic language of the EU | Maltese |
| The largest ship registry of Europe | The Malta flag |
| The first EU country to legalize cannabis | 14 December 2021 |
| The highest turnouts of any free election | 87% in 2026 |
| A first-ever fourth consecutive win | Labour, 30 May 2026 |
| The summit that ended the Cold War | Marsaxlokk, 1989 |
| The Great Siege | 1565 |
| A capital planned on a grid in 1566 | Valletta |
| The common heritage of mankind | Pardo's speech, 1967 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Malta?
The Republic of Malta — Repubblika ta' Malta in Maltese — independent of Britain on 21 September 1964 after 164 years of British rule that followed the 268 of the Knights of St. John, and a republic within the Commonwealth on 13 December 1974. The name is old: Melite to the Greeks and Romans, perhaps from the word for honey, which the island's bees made famous, or from the Phoenician for a refuge, the harbor that every power of the Mediterranean has wanted since the Phoenicians came about 800 BC.
What is the capital of Malta?
Valletta — the city the Knights built on the Sciberras peninsula between the Grand Harbour and Marsamxett after they beat the Ottoman siege of 1565, named for the Grand Master Jean de Valette who laid its first stone on 28 March 1566, the first planned city of Europe on a grid, a World Heritage site whole; about 5,000 people live inside its walls, the smallest capital of the European Union, with the parliament of 2015 at its gate. The people live around it: Birkirkara, Mosta, Qormi, St. Paul's Bay, Sliema and St. Julian's in the built-up crescent of the island, with Victoria the town of Gozo.
How big is Malta, and how many people live there?
About 316 km² (122 sq mi) — smaller than Washington, D.C., the smallest country of the European Union — three inhabited islands in the middle of the Mediterranean 80 km south of Sicily and 280 km north of Libya: Malta, Gozo across a 5 km channel, and Comino between them. The census of 2021 counted 519,562 people; the statistics office counted 588,254 at the end of 2025, up 2.4 percent in a year on the arrival of workers from outside the EU, 31 percent of the whole foreign nationals — the most densely peopled country of the Union at about 1,860 to the square kilometer, and the one with its lowest birth rate.
What are the highest and lowest points of Malta?
Ta' Dmejrek, 253 m (830 ft), on the Dingli Cliffs of the western coast of the main island, where the limestone plateau breaks off into the sea; and the Mediterranean. There are no rivers, mountains or lakes — the islands are a tilted slab of limestone with dry valleys, the wieds, that run only in the winter rains; the drinking water comes from the sea through the desalination plants and from the aquifer beneath.
What currency does Malta use?
The euro (ISO code EUR, €), since 1 January 2008, when it replaced the Maltese lira at 0.4293 — the lira of 1972, itself the pound of the British years; Malta the fifteenth member of the eurozone with Cyprus that day. Clocks keep Central European Time, UTC+1, with summer time; Malta drives on the left, the British legacy, one of four countries of the EU to do so.
Who governs Malta?
President Myriam Spiteri Debono, the head of state since 4 April 2024, elected by the two-thirds of the House the reform of 2020 requires, the former Speaker and the second woman in the office; and Prime Minister Robert Abela of the Labour Party, head of government since 13 January 2020, when he succeeded Joseph Muscat in the crisis over the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia, sworn in for a third term on 1 June 2026 after the snap election of 30 May that gave Labour a fourth consecutive victory — the first ever — with 51.8 percent against the 44.7 of Alex Borg's Nationalists on a turnout of 87 percent. Three months later, on 2 September 2026, a jury acquitted the businessman Yorgen Fenech of the journalist's murder by eight votes to one, a verdict the prosecution is appealing and the press-freedom bodies called a denial of justice. The next election is due by 2031.
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