Young people's knowledge of foreign languages and their use of information technology is more widespread in Malta than in any other future EU country, according to a new survey by the European Commission.
On the other hand, Malta's youths are the least likely to read books in their leisure time and are among the least travelled.
The Eurobarometer public opinion survey, called Youth in New Europe, questioned people aged between 15 and 24 in the 10 countries set to join the Union next year and the three - Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey - hoping to become members later.
With English as Malta's second "first language", it is no surprise that 99 per cent of the young Maltese respondents said they could speak at least one foreign language, more than in any other country in the survey. Slovenia, with 98 per cent, and Cyprus (91 per cent) followed closely in second and third places.
The figures are higher than the average in the existing EU member states, where 74 per cent of young people can speak a major Western language.
The Maltese, however, are not just leaders in language because of English. They also head the list for French, with 31 per cent saying they speak it well enough to hold a conversation. And more Maltese (29 per cent) say they can speak three foreign languages than in any other future EU state.
The survey says that on average, Malta's young citizens speak 2.2 foreign languages, followed by Slovakia (2.1 per cent) and Slovenia (2.0 per cent).
Equally impressive is the widespread use of information technology among Maltese young people. The survey asked which of a number of devices and services the respondents used at least once a week: desktop or laptop computer; e-mail; internet; mobile phone; game console; CD-ROM; DVD player, and palm computer/personal organiser.
Of these nine IT tools, the Maltese were found to use an average of 3.9 regularly - more than any other nationality - and not a single Maltese respondent replied "none". Slovenia followed at 3.6, the Czech Republic with 3.2 and Cyprus with 3.0.
Virtually all Slovene youngsters (97 per cent) and almost all the Maltese (95 per cent), Cypriots (92 per cent) and Czechs (90 per cent) use a mobile phone. This is higher than the last figure available for the average in existing EU states (80 per cent), measured in 2000.
The second most often used device is the PC, most widespread in Slovenia (77 per cent), Estonia (71 per cent) and Malta (71 per cent). The EU average in 2000 was 56 per cent.
The internet is most widely used by young people in Slovenia and Estonia (with 62 per cent using it every week), in the Czech Republic (57 per cent) and in Malta (56 per cent). These are also the four top-ranked countries for e-mail usage.
There is one device that is used by Malta's young people far more frequently than any other nationality - and it may not be something to be too proud of. Thirty per cent say they use a game console - PlayStation, XBox or similar video game - every week.
This is marginally higher than the EU average but far above the average of 10 per cent in the countries joining the EU next year. In Estonia, for example, the figure is only five per cent, and the report notes that apparently parents there like to spend their money on things "that they think are more useful than video games".
The survey also asked about what young people do in their leisure time. The most favoured activity in the 13 countries overall is watching TV, with 80 per cent listing it among the things they do regularly. The Maltese, at 73 per cent, were no exception.
They could do well, however, to pick up a book more often. Only 36 per cent responded that they read regularly during their leisure time, the lowest figure among all future EU states, where the average is 46 per cent.
In 10 countries set to join the EU in 2004, the average is 50 per cent. The Czechs registered the highest readership levels, at 58 per cent.
Another area in which Maltese young people are relatively backward is in their travel experience. Only 41 per cent said they had visited another country in the last two years, second from bottom in the table of next year's acceding countries, whose average is 56 per cent.
Slovenians are the most widely travelled, with 86 per cent saying they had travelled in the last two years. But then, their country is not surrounded by water.