Residents in the Grand Harbour area were the main beneficiaries of €37 million in social benefits handed out by the government this year.

Cospicua ranked first with 11.8 per cent of its population on benefits. Valletta came a close second, with 10.5 per cent, followed by Senglea with 9.3 per cent.

Between January and August, over 13,300 people received €37.9 million in benefits, recent figures tabled in Parliament revealed.

Vittoriosa has the sixth highest rate of residents on benefits - 7.2 per cent, with Xgħajra at 7.8 per cent and Floriana at 7.3 per cent.

Only last week, the European Commission called on Malta to reform its social benefits scheme, including pensions, health care and longterm care to reduce the projected increase in age-related expenditure.

The report pointed fingers at Malta and another 12 countries for having "high-risk" public finances, warning that these would jeopardise pensions and social benefits.

However, another recent Commission report noted Malta's social benefits are preventing eight per cent of Maltese from falling into the "at risk of poverty" category.

But this does not come cheap. Between January and June, the government spent almost €85 million in non-contributory benefits, which act as a safety net for people who fall below the poverty line.

The parliamentary reply shows that single person households received almost half of the social benefits handed out so far - 6,059 from 13,383.

The next largest group were people who were legally separated, 3,998, followed by married individuals, 2,407.

Up till May, over 7,200 people had received social assistance and another 4,600 had received the unemployment benefit.

Excluding pensions, social assistance takes up the bulk of State benefits as can be seen from National Statistics Office figures, which reveal over €31 million was paid between January and June.

The figures also show that around 2,600 single parents received benefits so far, even though there are more than 8,000 single parent households.

With just over €8 million spent in single parent households, the largest number of single parents can be found in the southern harbour area, particularly Cottonera, Valletta, Xgħajra, Floriana and Marsa. The government's expenditure on social security benefits increased by 6.7 per cent between January and June, mainly due to an increase of €14.8 million in pensions.

During this period, the government spent €354 million on a range of benefits which include retirement pensions, invalidity, widows, injury, sickness and maternity benefits.

Civil status of people on benefits

Single individuals - 6,059
Legally separated people - 3,998
Married couples - 2,407
Separated people - 673
Widows - 181
Divorced people - 53
Separated people paying maintenance - 23