A recent National Statistics Office survey on lifestyle appears at a glance to reinforce a 2005 Dutch study, which portrayed Malta as ‘the happiest nation on earth’. But the findings also illustrate deep-seated contradictions, and raise questions regarding key indicators such as sexual health, literacy and drugs
NSO survey at a glance 80.3% say they are quite satisfied with their lives
56.5% of females compared to 48.3% of males walk 30 minutes every week
61% were sexually active in the last year, but 67.5% did not use contraception
On average a Maltese adult weighs 72.5kg.
More than half (56.1%) of the adult population consumes at least one unit of alcohol per week.
One quarter of the adult population smokes, and 61.5% of divorcees and separated individuals are smokers.
3.2% claimed that they have made use of illicit drugs in the 12 months prior to the survey.
Half the country was on a diet while the survey was conducted
Vital statistics Apart from illustrating the basic lifestyle of the typical Maltese citizen, the Nationalist Statistics Office survey is useful to compile a physical profile, too.
According to its findings, the average Maltese adult weighs 72.5kg. This varies from 65.9kg for women to 79.4kg for men. The heaviest category involves individuals between 35 and 44 years of age, who on average weigh 75.7kg. On the other hand, individuals aged between 18 and 24 weigh least, with an average of 66.7kg.
Overall, 2.6% of the population are underweight, 35.1% have normal weight, and the remaining 62.4% are either overweight or obese. In addition, a minority of 7.5% of overweight individuals and 6.5% of obese individuals attend a gym or fitness club at least once a week.
The average height of the Maltese population is 165.3cm. On a gender level, women are 159.7cm tall, compared to 171.2cm for men.
Keeping it country When President George Abela told an interviewer his favourite singer was Dolly Parton, he was more in synch with the popular mood than even he probably assumed. NSO statistics recently revealed that while a relative majority (38.9%) of Maltese listen to more than one type of music, Country & Western emerges as by far the most popular genre among 19.2% of respondents, followed by classical music (10.9%) and pop (10.8%). On the other hand, 7.1% do not like listening to music at all.
Techno, trance and house are the most popular types of music among those aged 18 to 24, while rock music is most popular among persons aged between 25 and 34 and between 55 and 64.
Illiteracy? No problem Despite numerous international resources such as Eurostat suggesting low literacy levels in Malta, reading is nonetheless cited as the most popular hobby among the adult population: especially among women, who register 48.1% to the 27.3% registered among males. Elsewhere 26% highlighted travelling as one of their hobbies while home decoration was pointed out by over one-fifth of the population, predominantly women. In addition, around 32% mentioned “internet-browsing” as their preferred activity... although there are no known statistics for the amount of Maltese who know what the word “hobby” actually means.
Exercise Women are likelier than men to walk for at least 30 minutes per week. In fact, this was found to be true for 56.5% of females compared to 48.3% of males. This particular activity was also found to be common among 56.9% of married and 49.4% of single persons. In Gozo the proportion is slightly lower, 39% claiming to walk for at least 30 minutes per week.
Similarly, females are more likely to undertake some intensive exercise than males. There is also a relationship between age and intensive exercise, where the young are more likely to perform this activity, with 48.4% of those aged 18 to 24.
On average, 9.1% of the total population attends a gym or fitness club at least once a week. In this case, the difference between males and females is narrower, with 7.5% of males compared to 10.7% of females. Furthermore, 12.7% of the adult population living in the Northern district attends a gym or fitness club at least once a week, compared to 3.4% of people living in the South Eastern district.
Car crazy Malta indeniably emerges as a “car crazy” nation, with 73% of the population owning or making regular use of a private car. Gender stereotypes appear to be justified on at least this occasion, with 84.2% of males owning their own vehicle, compared to only 61.5% of females. In addition, the car or motorcycle is the mode of transport mostly used both for going out, and to go to work or school. However, people from the Northern Harbour are the least likely to use a car or motorcycle to go to work or school. In fact, persons residing within this district are the likeliest to go to work or school on foot.
Day trippers On average, 35.2% of the population spends at least one night on a local holiday, while 29.6% spend at least one night on a holiday abroad. The former was found to be most common among individuals aged 18 to 24 while the latter was found to be most common among persons between 25 and 34 years of age. Also, holidays are more popular among those from the Northern district, while Gozitans are the least likely to go on a holiday, both locally and abroad.
The average duration of a local holiday is normally seven nights while persons going for a holiday abroad usually spend about 13 nights.
Women more health conscious In total, 84% of the adult population visited a General Practitioner in the year prior to the survey, while half of them visited a dentist. Moreover, nearly 10% reported that they visited neither GP nor dentist. In general, more women than men visited a GP or a dentist in the 12 months prior to the survey, with 80.1% of males and 87.5% of females. These proportions go down to 47.7 and 51.2% respectively for visits to a dentist.
But while these statistics appear to suggest a certain health-consciousness among the population at large, the findings also reflect the opposite conclusions when it comes to sexual health. A clear majority – 61% of respondents – were sexually active in the 12 months prior to the survey; but of these, 67.5% had not used some type of contraception.
This in turn must be viewed in the context of other recent statistics, which suggest that Malta has a relatively high rate of sexually transmitted diseases among young persons, as well as Europe’s highest percentage of teenage girls dropping out of school because of pregnancy.
The issue was highlighted by Dr Philip Carabot of the Genito-urinary clinic as long ago as 2007: “The very worrying trend of high casual sex coupled with almost universal condom non-use, is a serious indictment of our country’s entire Sex Education programme in particular, and our sporadic Sexual Health Promotion “campaigns” in general. It is the author’s impression, based on running of the GU clinic for the last 8 years, that many of the young people seen lack the most basic of social and sexual skills, (including basic genital hygiene) one expects in a modern society. This lack of preparedness for the realities of life makes one wonder which part of the National Curriculum (Sexual Health) is actually being implemented, and by which schools.”
Up in smoke Despite being the second EU country to ban smoking in public places, Malta remains a nation of smokers. More than one out of every four Maltese residents smokes cigarettes, accounting for 26.4% of the adult population. On a gender level, this is true for 33.5% of males and 19.4% of females.
It was also found that 61.5% of divorced, annulled and separated individuals are smokers, while this proportion goes down to 8.9% for the widowed.
The average rate of cigarette consumption is 15 cigarettes daily. An analysis at gender level revealed that males smoke an average of 17 cigarettes, while females smoke five fewer cigarettes each day. Furthermore, divorced and separated individuals, as well as those whose marriages were annulled smoke 20.3 cigarettes per day.
Drink driving away More than half (56.1%) of the adult population consumes at least one unit of alcohol per week. This proportion decreases with age, with 74.4% of those aged between 18 and 24, compared to 43.8% of those aged 65 and over. There is also a significant difference at gender level. In fact, 70.3% of males and 41.9% of females drink at least one unit of alcohol per week.
Wine is the most widely consumed form of alcohol with 42.7% of the population consuming at least one glass of wine per week. Some 24% and 20.3% of the population consume at least one bottle of beer and one unit of spirits per week, respectively. The youngest age group comprises the largest proportion of spirit consumers, with 50.3% of individuals aged 18 to 24 compared to 20.3% of the rest of the population.
On average, alcohol consumers drink 4.2 glasses of wine, 5.4 bottles of beer and 5 tots of spirits each week. Persons aged between 18 to 24 drink fewer units than the average with respect to wine and beer. However the opposite is true for drinking spirits.
Those in the younger age groups are most likely to drive a car after consuming three or more alcoholic drinks. In fact, 20.1% of those between the age of 18 to 24 and 25.8% of those between 25 and 34 have driven a car after having consumed three drinks or more.
Drugs It was found that some 16.5% of females made use of prescribed tranquilisers, antidepressants or sedatives in the 12 months predating the survey, compared to 11.9% of males. On the other hand, 4.1% and 2.2% of males and females respectively made use of these pharmaceuticals in the 12 months prior to the survey without any medical prescription.
Furthermore, 3.2% claimed that they have made use of illicit drugs in the 12 months prior to the survey.
Eating habits Our eating habits are arguably healthier than expected, with a staggering 95% of the Maltese claiming to consume fruit at least once in a week, while 96.7% consume vegetables at least once a week. In addition, 48.4% of the population eat fruit almost every day, while another 28.1% do so three to five days a week. Another 39.2% eat vegetables almost every day, while 34.5% eat vegetables three to five days a week.
Over half the Maltese population were on a diet at the time of the survey. Particularly, females are more likely to follow a diet than males. At the same time, however, 66.3% of males and 49.7% of females ate fried food at least once during the week preceding the survey. An analysis by age revealed that 95.1% of males in the 18-24 age bracket eat fried food at least once a week, compared to 77.8% of females in the same age bracket. It also emerged that some 9.2% of the adult population eat fried food from 3 to 7 days a week, while this proportion goes up to 25.3% for individuals aged 18 to 24.
Life satisfaction In general, persons rate their standard of living as good, with persons aged 18 to 24 and having a tertiary level of education, giving the best rating. With reference to job satisfaction, a proportion of 29.7% of the population are satisfied, with females overruling males.
When asked about the satisfaction in their current relationship, 70.4% claimed to be satisfied, while 20.6% stated the opposite. More males than females are satisfied with their current relationship. In addition, married and single persons are also the most satisfied.
In general, the majority of Maltese adults are quite satisfied with their lives, with 80.3% of individuals. It emerged that married persons are the most while cohabiting individuals are the least. It was also observed that persons claiming to have a very good or good standard of living were also those being the most satisfied with their lives. The same applied to those being very satisfied or satisfied in their current job.
Leisure Restaurants are the most frequented places by the adult population, while casinos are the least: though this could be explained by the existence of a 25-year age limit for Maltese citizens to enter a casino. In fact, all places except casinos are likelier to be frequented by the younger generation: 95.3% of individuals aged 18 to 24 frequent restaurants at least once a year, compared to 49.8% of those aged over 65.
However, the popularity of bingo, lotteries and other forms of gambling which are not affected by the casino age-limit, is also highly related to the age of the persons. In fact, popularity in such hobbies varied from 3% among those aged 18 to 24, 8.4% of those aged 45 to 54 and 15% among those having 65 years or more.
Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below. Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.
Download front page in pdf file format
All the interviews from Reporter on MaltaToday's YouTube channel.
