Wednesday, 3rd December 2008 - 11:38CET

Reading is rated top hobby of the Maltese

A survey carried out by the National Statistics Office has found that 38 percent of Maltese residents - particularly women, rate reading as their main hobby.

Twenty-six percent said travel was their principal leisure activity while home decoration proved a favourite pastime for over one-fifth of the population, followed by 21 percent who mentioned Internet browsing.

Restaurants were found to be the most frequented places by 79 percent of adults, followed by cinemas, live sport events, bars and wine bars, clubs and dance-clubs.

The survey results indicated that nearly 62 percent rated their physical health as good.

It emerged that 84 percent visited a GP in the year before the survey, while half the adult population visited a dentist. Nearly 10 per cent reported that they did not visite a GP or dentist.

Weight and height

The survey found that, on average, a Maltese adult weighs 72.5 kg.

This varies from 65.9 kg for women to 79.4kg for men. Some three percent of the adult population is underweight, whereas 62 percent are either overweight or obese.

It was estimated that the average height of the Maltese population is 165.3 cm. On a gender level, the average height in respect of women is 159.7 cm compared to the average man’s 171.2 cm.

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Article © Allied Newspapers Ltd., printed on Sunday, November 8, 2009. This article is for personal use only, and should not be distributed.

Comments

William Gatt (on 3/12/08)

@ David Calleja, Patricia Muscat and A Saliba

Believe who you wish. The Maltese like to say a lot of nice things about themselves. This is evident in the fact that 62% think they are in good health...to last them for a couple of years maybe!

Then again, as they say, statistics are like a bikini as they are highly revealing but conceal the most important parts - 38% is less than 2/5th's of the population!

Plus I wouldn't consider reading pathetic gossip magazines with made up stories and celebrity chatter as 'reading'.

Karl Consiglio (on 3/12/08)

So the Maltese prefer reading to having sex? Nonsense!

david calleja-urry (on 3/12/08)

What bothers me is the word hobby here. How can reading be a ''hobby'' - collecting books - yes, specialising in a paricular subject / topic - I understand - but how can the simpe act of ''reading'' be considered a hobby?... also, from my own personal experience, i am a bit skeptical of the figures quoted in the other subjects mentioned.

Muscat. Patricia (on 3/12/08)

I remember an EU survey which said that the Maltese are amongst the worst read !

D Vella (on 3/12/08)

@TBriffa

precisely my point . . . I would not take the results of this so-called 'survey' too seriously . . . the hard evidence, in the form of the actual standard of written and spoken language of a large proportion of the population indicates otherwise!!

Joe Tabone-Adami (on 3/12/08)

"Reading". Yes, but reading what? Do glossies and trash go for literature? Mr (or Ms) Vella has, indeed, every reason to express surprise!

M. Mifsud (on 3/12/08)

Wow! There is something that always leaves me puzzled. 62% of Maltese are overweight or obese, right? So can somebody please explain why most clothes shops (not the specific ones that sell larger sizes) stock microscopic clothes and shoes that end up in one sale after another without ever being sold?

d. mifsud (on 3/12/08)

It's not how much you read it's what you read that counts.

D Vella (on 3/12/08)

Reading is the top hobby of the maltese people ?? That is indeed a surprise, given that the standard of correct spoken and written language by the vast majority is pathetic and abysmal! Too bad they seem incapable of learning how to use a language properly whilst pursuing their professed hobby! On the other hand, one should not read too much from the results of a 'survey'. There is invariably a wide gulf between what people actually do and what they claim to do.

T Briffa (on 3/12/08)

What bothers me is the title of the article. Wasn't there some EU survey a few months ago that rated us amongst the worst lovers of literature in Europe? And if we really were book lovers I guess you'd see more people reading books in parks and beaches and kids play areas. I always see lots of people gossiping and smoking and screaming at the children. And I know too many people who spend their free time in front of the television or laptop. My own love of books started at 6 years of age when a student teacher created a little lending library in one of those deep class windows. We need to start them young and maybe eventually the results of a similar survey would be believable.

Karen Saliba (on 3/12/08)

Being unhealthy doesn't mean one is sick. It means that one is not enjoying life to the full and one's quality of life is not as it should be. of course it also means that one is inviting trouble.

A. Saliba (on 3/12/08)

Mrs. Mizzi, unless you're a bodybuilder or athlete with abnormally low bodyfat, being overweight is almost always an indication of unhealthiness. This is not to say of course that people who are not overweight are necessarily healthy..

Maria Mizzi (on 3/12/08)

@ A. Saliba

Why do you find it so hilarious? Not all overweight people are unhealthy just as not all people who are of average weight are healthy.

A. Saliba (on 3/12/08)

Hilarious:

"62 percent rated their physical health as good."

Then:

"62 percent are either overweight or obese."

Reading is rated top hobby of the Maltese

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