More than 3,000 single parents were receiving social assistance last year, almost double the number in 2004, according to the National Statistics Office.
Only the two miniscule localities of Mdina and San Lawrenz did not have single parents on social assistance in 2012.
By contrast, eight years ago there were eight localities, mostly Gozitan, in which there were no single parents on social assistance.
The figures are found in the NSO’s recent publication Social Security Benefits: A Locality Perspective 2013.
Social assistance is given to a single parent who does not earn more than a certain amount of income and so the figures only give a snapshot of the most vulnerable.
Birkirkara, with a populationof more than 21,000, had the largest number of single parents on assistance, 195.
But a more telling analysis carried out by this newspaper shows that, when single parents are taken as a ratio of the locality’s population, the largest concentration is found in Cospicua.
The largest of the Three Cities had 142 single parents on social assistance, which works out at 2.7 per cent from a population of 5,222.
Cospicua climbed two places since 2004, topping the chart last year with the highest concentration of single parents. It was followed in second place by Senglea and Valletta each with a single parent figure of 2.6 per cent.
The three localities had also featured among the top five in 2004.
Given that social assistance is linked to low income – recipients’ total income earned together with the social assistance entitlement for two people should not exceed the national minimum wage – the figures may also give an indication of affluence across the country.
While the largest concentration of single parents receiving government handouts are found in the southern harbour region, including the localities of Pietà, Qormi and Ħamrun in the northern harbour area, Gozitan localities had the least concentration.
Għajnsielem, with a mere 0.1 per cent of its population being single parents on social assistance, was on the bottom rung just after Mdina and San Lawrenz.
Qala and Xagħra, also in Gozo, had 0.2 per cent.
Ratio of single parents to population: 2012
| Top five | Bottom five |
| Cospicua: 2.7% (1.5) | Xagħra: 0.2% (0.1) |
| Senglea: 2.6% (1.6) | Qala: 0.2% (0.1) |
| Valletta: 2.6% (1.2) | Għajnsielem: 0.1% (0) |
| Floriana: 2% (0.8) | Mdina: 0% (0) |
| Vittoriosa: 1.9% (0.9) | San Lawrenz: 0% (0) |
The numbers in the brackets represent the ratio in 2004.
Reference is to single parents who receive social assistance.
Source: NSO
ksansone@timesofmalta.com