Statistics rarely reflect the whole picture about the realities faced by society. But they certainly help to identify trends that evolve gradually as people’s lifestyles change over time. Recently published 2015 socio-economic statistics make interesting reading because they identify what could possibly be significant behavioural trends evolving in our society.
The black economy is notoriously difficult to measure because by definition it represents the informal, and, therefore, unmeasured, activities of a large section of the workforce. Practically all economists agree that the formal way in which we calculate GDP growth is at best defective because it ignores the wealth-creating activities, whether legal or illegal, of various people. Statisticians have to rely on socio-economic studies to capture the extent that the informal economy contributes to the annual creation of wealth in a particular country.
According to the National Statistics Office, acting on EU econometric models, prostitution and illegal drugs boosted Malta’s economy by €24 million in 2015, an increase by one fifth over 2014. One has to be very careful before giving a dogmatic interpretation on these statistics.
From an economic perspective it would have been much more interesting to calculate how many people are actually involved in the black economy or the contribution working mothers make to the real economy through their unpaid work.
One evolving trend could well be that, as a result of tourism and immigration, the elements that constitute the bulk of the unofficial economy are changing. Deciding on whether the fact that fewer than one per cent of the population are engaged in the prostitution industry is a worrying indication on evolving social trends may be interesting but not a necessity.
For the majority of people, it would undoubtedly be more useful to study crime statistics and, thus, assess the inherent risks of living in Malta. The days when people used to leave the keys to their homes in the keyholes, even when they left their homes to go on errands, are long behind us. Most people, especially the elderly, worry about the danger of being mugged while outdoors. Parents worry about leaving their children to play in public places lest they be molested.
Statistics published by criminologist Saviour Formosa indicate that certain types of crimes, like pickpocketing, are definitely increasing and very credible explanations have been given for this worrying trend. The influx of certain visitors from Eastern Europe is likely to be the reason why in 2015 pickpocketing quadrupled since 2009. Other EU countries seem to be experiencing the same trend following the enlargement of the union in the last 10 years.
Equally worrying is the seemingly evolving trend of rising cybercrime, whether in the form of attempted fraud or a way of bullying via the social networks. According to Dr Formosa, computer-related crimes, such as cyberbullying, hacking and privacy breaches, increased by 27 per cent last year. Whatever the reasons behind cybercrime, this evolving trend calls for immediate action.
E-commerce is gaining in importance as people find it more convenient to rely on electronic shopping and payments. If payment systems prove to be vulnerable to cyber attacks, serious damage could be done to this evolving industry.
Similarly, incidents of cyberbullying by both youngsters and older internet trolls could devastate the lives of young and no-so-young people who resent seeing their privacy violated.
Hence, the need to have structures in place that would go deeper, much deeper, in the vast volume of data that is continually being churned by various quarters.