23% of the Maltese population last year consisted of people aged 60 and over amounted to 95,145, the NSO said today.
In a statement to mark the International Day of Older Persons, the National Statistics Office said that the largest share of the elderly population is made up of women, with 55 per cent of the total.
Population projections showed an increasing trend in the percentage of the population aged over 59, from 23 per cent in 2010 to 38 per cent projected in 2060.
"Such an increase in proportion of elderly persons may be explained by a steady increase in expectation of life and a relatively low fertility rate registered during the past years," the NSO said.
There were 51 grooms and 14 brides aged 60 and over who tied the knot during 2010. Nearly half of these spouses did so for the first time. The remaining spouses were equally shared between widows and divorcees.
The total government expenditure on social benefits with respect to retirement amounted to €390 million, or 53 per cent of total security benefits. Around 95 per cent of these benefits were contributory benefits, which totalled €370 million.
There was an increase of 15 per cent in total government expenditure on retirement and old-age pensions when compared to 2009, which was mainly attributed to 20 per cent increase in the Two-Thirds pensions.
Figures derived from the 2009 Statistics on Income and Living Conditions showed that elderly persons were at a higher risk of poverty than their younger counterparts. The risk-at-poverty rate for persons aged 60 and over stood at 19 per cent while that for younger age groups stood at 14 per cent.
Nearly 65 per cent of the elderly felt that they could not afford to pay for one week's annual holiday away from home and 11 per cent could not afford to eat a meal that includes meat, chicken, fish (or vegetarian equivalent) every second day.
Moreover, 31 per cent said that their household could not afford to face unexpected expenses of €450 and over and 13 per cent said that they were not able to keep their home adequately warm.
The NSO said that past Labour Force Surveys revealed that the percentage of employed population aged 60 and over was on the increase, amounting to 7.1 per cent in 2010.
About 42 per cent of all deaths among persons aged 65 and over in 2010 were due to diseases of the circulatory system, followed by neoplasms, which caused 24 per cent of all deaths. On the other hand, the least common causes of death for this segment of the population were congenital malformations, deformations and chromosomal abnormalities together with infectious and parasitic diseases with a 0.2 share per category.
There were 59 persons aged 60 and over following a part-time or full-time course at the University of Malta. The majority of these students, 58 per cent, were men. An increase of 13 per cent in the number of students aged over 59 was noted, when compared to 2009 levels.