News | Sunday, 05 July 2009

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St Paul’s Bay grows by 63% in four years

James Debono
Seaside localities St Paul’s Bay and Marsaskala have seen the sharpest increase in population in the past four years, confirming their status as Malta’s fastest growing towns in the latest census.
While St Paul’s Bay’s population increased by 63% from 8,942 in 2004 to 14,541 in 2008, Marsaskala’s population increased by 59%, from 6,214 to 9,852.
The rise can be mostly attributed to new families moving into the two localities.
Despite its population rise, only 814 new babies were born in St Paul’s Bay since 2004. Marsaskala had 606 newborns in the same period.
Old historical cities have on the other hand registered the sharpest decrease in populations. Mdina lost 37% of its population since 2004, while Isla – the most densely populated locality in Malta – lost a quarter of its population.
The decline in the industrial working class is also reflected in demographics. Santa Lucija – a town founded in the 1950s to host the emerging proletariat – saw its population decrease by 16%.
Significantly, statistics show a population movement towards the north of Malta. While the south harbour region, which includes Cottonera and most of the inner harbour region, saw population drop by 5%, the northern region which includes Mosta, Naxxar Mellieha and St Paul’s Bay saw population increase by 19%.
Another region seeing a sharp rise of 10% in population is the south-eastern region. While older inland villages in this region like Zejtun and Gudja saw a decrease, Marsaskala, Birzebbugia and Zurrieq experienced a rise in population.
A more modest 4% increase in population was registered by the western region. Rabat saw more people move out, but Mtarfa saw an increase of 50% due to the social housing initiatives located there.
And populations in affluent Balzan and Lija registered a 9% increase. Attard, which experienced a steep growth in the 1990s, saw population rise by 7%.
Population levels remained stable in the north harbour region which only lost 1% of population. Populations declined or remained stable in major urban centres like Hamrun, Birkirkara and Qormi.
Birkirkara lost 0.7% of its population and remains Malta’s largest town. But it soon risks being overtaken by “northern” Mosta, whose population increased by 5% since 2004.
Sliema, whose population was in sharp decline between the 1960s and the 1980s, has seen its population increase by 9% since 2004. Affluent Swieqi also saw a sharp 23% increase in its population in the same period.
Despite its geographic isolation, Gozo has only lost 1.7% of its population. The fastest growing Gozitan town was Munxar, with a 26% population increase.
On the other hand Xewkija, which hosted Gozo’s only industrial estate, registered the sharpest drop in population in Gozo (-7%).

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