Foreigners living in Malta are the most likely to end up living in overcrowded households, it has emerged, with 13 per cent of non-EU residents confined in crowded homes.

According to figures issued by the EU statistics office, Eurostat, data for 2017 showed that a total of 12.8 per cent of adults from non-EU countries as well as so-called “foreign countries” living in Malta resided in households that were overcrowded.

The figure is significantly higher than the rates for those who are Maltese and foreigners coming from countries within the EU. According to the latest data, which analysed the situation in 2017, 2.2 per cent of Maltese residents lived in crowded homes, while the figure dropped even further to 0.6 per cent for foreigners from EU countries.

The data also shows that the problem is far worse for women than it is for men. While 9.1 per cent of men were found to have been living in homes that were too crowded, the figure shoots up to 15.5 per cent for female foreigners.

For the statistics office, a person is considered as living in an overcrowded household if this does not have at its disposal a minimum number of rooms for the number of people living there.

These includes at least one room per couple or one room per single person aged 18 and over, one room per pair of single people of the same gender between 12 and 17 years and one room per pair of children under 12.

Reports of housing worries have made headlines in recent months as more people report struggling with affording rising rents.

A recent Eurobarometer survey revealed that Maltese people were becoming increasingly concerned about housing issues. More than a quarter of respondents in that study expressed such a concern, with worries increasing significantly in a matter of months. According to the survey, Malta’s house prices increased at a rate that was faster than the housing market in Hong Kong.

Housing problems have also been highlighted by prominent figures, including Archbishop Charles Scicluna, who has called the issue a “social emergency”. NGOs have warned high rent prices were resulting in more people living in appalling conditions or, worse, ending up homeless.