Malta is not only the most densely populated European state but also the most built-up country in the EU, with a third of its territory covered by buildings, Eurostat figures show.
It is followed by Belgium, where buildings cover 13 per cent of the country, and by Luxembourg and the Netherlands, with 12 per cent each.
On average, only five per cent of the land in EU member states is taken up by buildings, according to Eurostat’s Land Use/Cover Area survey for 2012.
While the EU has 40 per cent of its land covered by forests, the areas covered by trees in Malta only account for five per cent of the territory.
There is then the density factor, where Malta’s figures are far removed from the average. While Malta has more than 1,340 inhabitants per square kilometre, countries like Denmark and Sweden have 130 and 23 inhabitants per square kilometre respectively.
Developers do not build just for their own enjoyment
The chairman of the Malta Developers’ Association, Michael Falzon, was not impressed by Eurostat’s figures, saying they pointed to an obvious fact given the country’s population and the large influx of tourists.
“It is an obvious mathematical consequence of the fact that we are overpopulated,” he said when contacted.
“We cannot have our cake and eat it. We have more than 400,000 living on this tiny island, plus the tourists we accommodate.
“We cannot do miracles. This is the reality we have to face,” he said.
“Developers always build to satisfy demand. They do not develop just for their own enjoyment to build.
“There is a demand and the developers respond to that demand, which arises from the population and the tourism industry,” he said.
Astrid Vella, coordinator of environmental lobby ground Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, also said the Eurostat findings “came as no surprise”.
She referred to the 2011 census, which showed that the stock of vacant property had risen from 53,000 to 72,000.
There was a significant increase in empty buildings in non-holiday areas such as Luqa, Tarxien and Fgura which, she said, proved that the increase in empty buildings could not be dismissed as holiday homes.
“More worrying than the statistics is the impact. Overdevelopment is scientifically proven to have a detrimental effect on the physical and mental health of town-dwellers,” she said.
“Vehicle emissions trapped between ever-rising buildings in Malta’s narrow streets contribute to asthma, cancer, coronary disease and Alzheimer’s.”
Yet, she added, the planning authority continued to “blindly” recommend major projects for approval, to add hundreds of apartments to the stock.
“FAA aims to see Malta develop through policies worthy of a modern European country, which do not damage its attraction as a tourism and investment destination, because Europeans used to green areas and well-planned towns favour locations that offer a better quality of life,” she said.