Twenty years ago there were 82,000 children under 15 in Malta – and now there are just 61,000.

This sharp drop in the number of births emerged from statistics just issued by Eurostat comparing child populations among EU member states.

Malta’s eight percentage point decline between 1994 to 2014 is the fourth highest in the bloc.

While in 1994 the number of children under 15 in the Maltese islands stood at 22.4 per cent of the population, last year the share fell to just 14.4 per cent, a 21,000 drop.

While the trend in the EU is for smaller families, the decline in the Maltese birth rate is bigger than the EU average.

In the EU as a whole there were 10 million fewer births last year than in 1994, with only Denmark registering an increase.

Ireland recorded by far the largest proportion of children, followed by France and the UK

The biggest drops in the number of children as a percentage of the population were seen in Cyprus (-8.9 per cent), Poland (-8.7 per cent), Slovakia (-8.2 per cent) and Malta.

Last year, at 22 per cent, Ireland recorded by far the largest proportion of children, followed by France (18.6 per cent), the UK (17.6 per cent), Denmark (17.2 per cent) and Sweden (17.1 per cent).

Germany (13.1 per cent), Bulgaria (13.7 per cent) and Italy (13.9 per cent) had the lowest ratios of children in the EU.

Prospects for the future are more positive.

Malta is expected to increase its ratio of children slightly by 2050, reaching some 14.9 per cent – an increase of 0.5 per cent over last year.

On the other hand, the average in the EU is expected to dip to 15 per cent by 2050, slightly higher than the Maltese average.

The Eurostat data also show that, relative to all 28 EU member states, Maltese children are among those who live with their parents the longest (the group described in Italian as mammoni).

The average age of Maltese young people leaving home in 2013 was 30.1 years – four years higher than the EU average.

The only other ‘children’ who live longer with their parents are the Croatians – with an average age of almost 32 years – and Slovaks (30.7 years). Italy comes just behind Malta at 29.9 years.

Interestingly, Maltese men normally leave home at 31 while Maltese women tend to start living independently when they are just over 29.

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