Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
National Statistics Office Population and Migration Statistics Unit Lascaris Valletta VLT 2000 MALTA
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
17 December 2025
2.2. Metadata last posted
17 December 2025
2.3. Metadata last update
17 December 2025
3.1. Data description
Data and metadata are transmitted to Eurostat by the Member States in the framework of the Unified Demographic Data Collection which is in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and their implementing regulations.
The regional breakdown of the Member States in the regional demographic tables is done under the most recent NUTS classification. There are agreements between Eurostat and Candidate countries as well as between Eurostat and EFTA countries, for which statistical regions have been coded in a way that resembles NUTS.
For more information on the versions in force, please see: Eurostat NUTS.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Not applicable.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Please refer to Tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
3.5. Statistical unit
Count of persons.
3.6. Statistical population
Please refer to Table 3.6 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
3.7. Reference area
Resident population, resident live births and resident deaths data are available at national and regional level of geographical detail.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Population figures based on the usual residence concept definition are available as from 31 December 2006.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Data is collected at unit (person) level.
The reference date for population data is the end of the reference period (midnight of 31 December).
The reference period for vital and death events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred. The reference period for migration flow data is the calendar year in which the migration occurred.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The current regional breakdown in the regional demographic tables is according to the Commission Regulation (EU) No 31/2011 amending annexes to Regulation (EC) No 1059/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the establishment of a common classification of territorial units for statistics (NUTS).
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Micro data is collected in terms of the Malta Statistics Authority, in which Part VIII – Use of Records of Public Authorities and protection of collected information stipulates that:
All information furnished by any person, undertaking or public authority under this Act shall be used only for the purpose of statistical compilation and analysis.
No information obtained in any way under this Act which can be related to an identifiable person or undertaking shall, except with the written consent of that person or undertaking or the personal representative or next-of-kin of that person, if he be deceased, be disseminated, shown or communicated to any person or body except
for the purposes of a prosecution for an offence under this Act; or
to officers of statistics in the course of their duties under this Act.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Not applicable as only aggregate figures are published. Micro data is requested from Public Authorities in terms of the Malta Statistics Authority Act and will be used internally and for statistical purposes only.
8.1. Release calendar
NSO is a member of the Special Data Dissemination Standards (SDDS) Committee, which sets dissemination standards set by the International Monetary Fund with a view of enhancing the availability of timely and comprehensive statistics in order to support macroeconomic policies. As a member of the SDDS Committee, NSO satisfies a number of criteria, which also entails the provision of an advanced news release calendar.
NSO adheres to internal policies directly related to the user's access to statistical data; one of which being a Dissemination Policy. Due to the importance of the area of demographic statistics, it is imperative that statistics are made available to all users, as soon as possible. In some cases, these statistics are provided on provisional basis and are therefore subject to revisions.
Data is published annually.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
The World Population Day news release is published annually, in July.
Please refer to Table 10.6 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Refer to 11.1.
11.1. Quality assurance
Please refer to Table 11.1 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Please refer to Tables 11.2.1 and 11.2.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Demographic statistics are often sought by many different users:
Internal use: High quality population statistics are essential for the calculation of the Gross domestic Product per capita. Moreover, they are essential for estimating probabilities of selection in survey sampling and hence the calculation of weights.
National users include: Ministries, Government departments and Authorities working within the social and economic spheres; research institutes, University of Malta, other policy makers, etc.
International users include: Eurostat; OECD; UNECE; European Commission’s Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion, etc.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not applicable.
12.3. Completeness
NSO has access to high quality administrative sources for the calculation of vital events.
Measuring migration flows is far more difficult, since in Malta, there is no register that can fully cover all migration flows. In view of this, the estimation of migration statistics in Malta is mainly done using different administrative sources. On the other hand, data that cannot be extracted from these registers is estimated through appropriate mathematical models. Although this procedure suffices to provide reliable migration statistics, it is still prone to errors (e.g. double counting, over-estimation of migrants; user-reporting due to later registrations, etc.), which can hardly be quantified.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Please refer to Tables 13.1 and 13.1.1 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
13.2. Sampling error
Please refer to Table 13.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
13.3. Non-sampling error
Please refer to Table 13.3 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
14.1. Timeliness
According to Article 4 (2) of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014, each year Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data at national and regional level as described in Annex II and related standard reference metadata (in the metadata structure definition defined for the Euro SDMX Metadata Structure) for the reference year within 12 months of the end of the reference year. According to Article 3 (2) of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, Statistics on international migration, usually resident population and acquisition of citizenship shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year.
14.2. Punctuality
Not applicable.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data is fully comparable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Please refer to Table 15.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
As of September 2017, data on marriages and divorces also includes same-sex marriages following enactment of the Marriage Act and Other Laws (2017). Very minor changes have been made during the past years in the methodology used for the compilation of demographic statistics. In view of this, it can be assumed that data is fully consistent.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Coherence tests are not possible, since this is the only source of population statistics compiled using the strict definition of usual residence.
A working paper published by Eurostat in 2018, compared data produced within the domain of asylum and managed migration (AMM) as part of the RESPER submissions (residence permit statistics) and migration statistics produced as part of Population Statistics. Comparison was conducted between the immigration flows based on the usual residence definition and the number of first permits issued with a duration of 12 months or more. The two estimates are generally coherent when taking into account the differences in methodology and definitions applied within the two domains as outlined below.
The relative difference for MT was +2.6% (immigration - residence permits). This difference can be attributed to the difference in the estimation procedure to implement the intention of stay of the usual residence definition in the immigration flows which is not conducted for the residence permit statistics. The relative difference for the stock was larger, at 31.6% and this can also be attributed to the implementation of the intention to stay criteria coupled with the fact that the residence permit stock statistics excludes persons with a residence permit with a purpose of stay related to humanitarian protection.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Coherence tests are not possible, since this is the only source of population statistics compiled using the strict definition of usual residence.
Not applicable.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Not available.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Intercensal revisions have been conducted twice. Population and migration statistics pertaining to the years 2005-2011 have been revised during 2013 further to the provision of the results from the 2011 Population and Housing Census. These revisions were necessary in order to align updates of population counts with the 2005 and 2011 census data, and therefore avoid breaks in time series. Intercensal revisions of population and migration statistics were also conducted for the time series from 2012 to 2021 to allign the time series between the 2011 and 2021 Census of Population and Housing.
An ad-hoc benchmark revision was also undertaken in 2017 to revise the migration estimates between 2012 and 2016.
18.1. Source data
Please refer to Table 18.1 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annual.
18.3. Data collection
See 18.1.
18.4. Data validation
Many efforts are made by NSO in order to ensure the production of demographic statistics at high quality standards. Measures that are implemented during the analysis stage include:
thorough checks on the administrative registers used for the compilation of vital events;
thorough checks on the administrative data used for the compilation of migration flows;
checks for double counting;
validation and cross-checking of results with auxiliary sources and past year's data, including census results.
18.5. Data compilation
All demographic indicators are calculated at national level and all aggregates use a common methodology.
DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS
Demographic balance is the equation that describes the change in the size of the population due to the flows of live births, deaths, immigration and emigration that occur in the reference year T.
Vital events are compiled from administrative sources.
Net migration – the difference between the number of immigrants and the number emigrants during the year (net migration is therefore negative when the number of emigrants exceeds the number of immigrants).
Population[T] = Population[T-1] + Births[T] - Deaths[T] + Net Migration[T]
where:
Population[T] = total population on 31st December of the year T;
Population[T-1] = total population on 31st December of the previous year T-1;
Births[T] = total number of live births occurring during the year T;
Deaths[T] = total number of deaths occurring during the year T;
Net Migration[T] = net migration during the year T.
Migration flows are calculated using the following components:
Maltese Nationals
Immigration of Maltese Nationals is calculated based on figures extracted from the most recent Census of Population and Housing using the information collected regarding residence one year prior to the Census. Using the same question from the Labour Force Survey, the change observed between the year when the census has been undertaken and the reference year is applied on the Census figures.
Emigration of Maltese Nationals is calculated based on the figures resulting from the Tourstat border survey for Maltese Nationals travelling from Malta. The duration of trip is analysed and an average number of persons who intend to stay away from Malta for 12 months and over of the past 3 years is calculated.
EU and UK Nationals
Immigration of EU and UK Nationals is calculated based on the figures of engagement forms presented by Jobsplus for the reference year in question. These are then linked to the termination of employment data in order to remove persons who have not been in employment for at least 1 year.
Emigration of EU Nationals is calculated based on the termination of employment data. Therefore persons who terminated their job and have not been re-employed are considered as emigrants.
Both immigration and emigration of the dependents of EU Nationals are calculated based on a factor extracted from other auxiliary sources.
Non-EU Nationals excluding the United Kingdom:
Asylum Statistics:
Immigration: The database held at the International Protection Agency is used to extract persons who submit a first application for asylum in the reference year. As of reference year 2022, first applicants for asylum are being included in the in flows. For reference year 2022, persons granted temporary protection in the reference year that were still in the valid stock by the end of the year were also included in the in flows.
Emigration: Includes Non-EU nationals previously been granted protection status who have been resettled, repatriated or relocated during the reference year. As of reference year 2022 all first applicants for asylum who were previously counted in the population and who had their application rejected, withdrawn or deemed inadmissable are also being included as out flows of the population.
Residence Permits:
Immigration of Non-EU nationals excluding the United Kingdom and asylum seekers are calculated based on the date of entry and the accumulated duration of permit/s validity in line with the intended 12 months criteria for Usual Residence.
Emigration of Non-EU nationals excluding the United Kingdom and asylum seekers includes persons whose permit has not been extended and who were considered residents in the population.
Other:
Immigration component based on registered foreign adoptions.
Data and metadata are transmitted to Eurostat by the Member States in the framework of the Unified Demographic Data Collection which is in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 and Regulation (EU) No 1260/2013 and their implementing regulations.
Please refer to Tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
Count of persons.
Please refer to Table 3.6 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
Resident population, resident live births and resident deaths data are available at national and regional level of geographical detail.
The reference date for population data is the end of the reference period (midnight of 31 December).
The reference period for vital and death events data is the calendar year in which the events occurred. The reference period for migration flow data is the calendar year in which the migration occurred.
Please refer to Tables 13.1 and 13.1.1 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
Data is collected at unit (person) level.
All demographic indicators are calculated at national level and all aggregates use a common methodology.
DEMOGRAPHIC INDICATORS
Demographic balance is the equation that describes the change in the size of the population due to the flows of live births, deaths, immigration and emigration that occur in the reference year T.
Vital events are compiled from administrative sources.
Net migration – the difference between the number of immigrants and the number emigrants during the year (net migration is therefore negative when the number of emigrants exceeds the number of immigrants).
Population[T] = Population[T-1] + Births[T] - Deaths[T] + Net Migration[T]
where:
Population[T] = total population on 31st December of the year T;
Population[T-1] = total population on 31st December of the previous year T-1;
Births[T] = total number of live births occurring during the year T;
Deaths[T] = total number of deaths occurring during the year T;
Net Migration[T] = net migration during the year T.
Migration flows are calculated using the following components:
Maltese Nationals
Immigration of Maltese Nationals is calculated based on figures extracted from the most recent Census of Population and Housing using the information collected regarding residence one year prior to the Census. Using the same question from the Labour Force Survey, the change observed between the year when the census has been undertaken and the reference year is applied on the Census figures.
Emigration of Maltese Nationals is calculated based on the figures resulting from the Tourstat border survey for Maltese Nationals travelling from Malta. The duration of trip is analysed and an average number of persons who intend to stay away from Malta for 12 months and over of the past 3 years is calculated.
EU and UK Nationals
Immigration of EU and UK Nationals is calculated based on the figures of engagement forms presented by Jobsplus for the reference year in question. These are then linked to the termination of employment data in order to remove persons who have not been in employment for at least 1 year.
Emigration of EU Nationals is calculated based on the termination of employment data. Therefore persons who terminated their job and have not been re-employed are considered as emigrants.
Both immigration and emigration of the dependents of EU Nationals are calculated based on a factor extracted from other auxiliary sources.
Non-EU Nationals excluding the United Kingdom:
Asylum Statistics:
Immigration: The database held at the International Protection Agency is used to extract persons who submit a first application for asylum in the reference year. As of reference year 2022, first applicants for asylum are being included in the in flows. For reference year 2022, persons granted temporary protection in the reference year that were still in the valid stock by the end of the year were also included in the in flows.
Emigration: Includes Non-EU nationals previously been granted protection status who have been resettled, repatriated or relocated during the reference year. As of reference year 2022 all first applicants for asylum who were previously counted in the population and who had their application rejected, withdrawn or deemed inadmissable are also being included as out flows of the population.
Residence Permits:
Immigration of Non-EU nationals excluding the United Kingdom and asylum seekers are calculated based on the date of entry and the accumulated duration of permit/s validity in line with the intended 12 months criteria for Usual Residence.
Emigration of Non-EU nationals excluding the United Kingdom and asylum seekers includes persons whose permit has not been extended and who were considered residents in the population.
Other:
Immigration component based on registered foreign adoptions.
Please refer to Table 18.1 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
Data is published annually.
According to Article 4 (2) of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 205/2014, each year Member States shall provide the Commission (Eurostat) with data at national and regional level as described in Annex II and related standard reference metadata (in the metadata structure definition defined for the Euro SDMX Metadata Structure) for the reference year within 12 months of the end of the reference year. According to Article 3 (2) of the Commission Regulation (EC) No 862/2007, Statistics on international migration, usually resident population and acquisition of citizenship shall be supplied to the Commission (Eurostat) within 12 months of the end of the reference year.
Data is fully comparable.
Please refer to Table 15.2 in Annex "POPSTAT_UNIESMS_A".
As of September 2017, data on marriages and divorces also includes same-sex marriages following enactment of the Marriage Act and Other Laws (2017). Very minor changes have been made during the past years in the methodology used for the compilation of demographic statistics. In view of this, it can be assumed that data is fully consistent.
