Women account for just one third of people working in the cultural sector in Malta, the lowest rate in the EU, according to recent statistics published by Eurostat.

Moreover, a comparison with the workforce as a whole shows that women in Malta are underrepresented in cultural jobs, taken to include occupations such as writers, architects, musicians, journalists, actors, dancers, librarians, handicraft workers and graphic designers.

The report, which is based on data from 2014, also found that Malta had the highest share of young people working in the sector, which, as in the rest of Europe, is largely made up of either self-employed or part-time individuals.

In general, according to the Eurostat figures, 2.9 per cent of the total Maltese workforce is currently employed in the sector, roughly equivalent to the average across the EU, where 6.3 million people were working in a cultural sector or occupation in 2014.

Malta, meanwhile, had the highest share of young people (15-29) working in culture in the EU at just under a third, compared to a European average of 18 per cent. On the other hand, only 40 per cent of those in cultural employment were found to have a tertiary education, as opposed to 60 per cent in the EU as a whole.

Artists in Malta are also far less likely than those in other sectors to be in full-time employment, with less than two thirds reporting full-time work compared to 83 per cent in the general labour market, mirroring trends in the rest of Europe.

Similarly, half of all artists, authors, journalists and linguists were self-employed in 2014. The general self-employment figure for Malta, by comparison, is just 15 per cent.

The Eurostat report also looks at the extent to which people engaged with cultural activities, where the local statistics make for quite dispiriting reading.

The figures for 2011, the most recent available, show that just over half of people in Malta had read at least one book in the last year and less than half had gone to the cinema, a live performance or a cultural site.

Interestingly, of those who had attended at least one live performance in the year, an overwhelming majority were repeat audience members, with most going to more than six performances in that time.

Young people, meanwhile, were consistently more likely to enjoy cultural activities than older ones, and women slightly more likely than men.