James Debono
A Eurobarometer survey found only 42% of Maltese respondents had thought of calling the Europe-wide emergency number 112, while 13% would call former numbers like 199 to contact the police, ambulance and civil protection, and 39% had no clue which number to phone in an emergency.
Overall, the Maltese were second only to Cypriots in their complete lack of knowledge on which emergency number to phone, according to a Europe-wide survey conducted in January.
When it comes to knowledge about which number to phone in an emergency, the Maltese come last among the seven countries who have made 112 their sole national emergency number – the other 20 member states have both 112 and other numbers.
The main advantage of the 112 number is that EU citizens can use it in any emergency situation they find themselves anywhere in the European Union.
In the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland, 96% of interviewees thought of calling the emergency number 112 when confronted with an emergency situation in their own country. High proportions of respondents who would call the 112 number were also recorded in Romania and Portugal (86% and 81%, respectively). As in Malta, all these countries have 112 as the sole or main emergency number.
In most countries where 112 was the sole/main emergency number, a large majority of respondents had called this number during the last emergency situation in their own country. This proportion was 95% in Sweden, 94% in both Romania and the Netherlands, 93% in Finland, 90% in Portugal and 89% in Denmark.
Although 112 was presented as the sole emergency number in Malta, just 72% of Maltese respondents had called this number the last time they needed assistance.
Nonetheless, Malta’s most recent proportion of “112” calls represented an increase of more than 10 percentage points compared to 2009.
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