Gżira is Malta’s gayest town

More than one in 20 people who lived in Gżira in 2021 (5.4%) have identified as gay, lesbian or with other non-heterosexual orientations.

With 509 LGBTIQ+ people out of a total population of 9,442, Gżira emerges as the locality with the highest percentage of non-heterosexuals in the census carried out in 2021. The rainbow community in Gżira includes 102 Maltese citizens and 407 non-Maltese residents.

This emerges from data provided to MaltaToday by the National Statistics Office which includes the number of LGBTIQ+ people who lived in each Maltese locality in 2021 when the census was held.

Gżira is followed by other localities in the north harbour region namely St Julian’s (4.6%), Msida (4.2%) and Sliema (4.2%).

But with a total LGBTIQ+ population of 1,009, it is St Paul’s Bay which boasts the largest non-heterosexual community in Malta. But this amounts to 3.6% of its total population, making it the locality with the fifth highest concentration of LGBTIQ+ people.

When only the Maltese population is taken into account, it is proletarian Bormla that boasts the largest number of LGBTIQ+ people as a percentage of the Maltese population.

The census shows that 90 LGBTIQ+ people out of a Maltese population of 3,641 people live in the harbour town. Significantly 11% of all foreigners living in Bormla are also LGBTIQ+ but these only number 45.

Bormla is followed by Gżira and St Julian’s where 2.3% of the Maltese population identify as LGBTIQ+.

While one finds six north harbour localities among the top 10 localities with the largest number of LGBTIQ+ people as a percentage of the total population, there are five south harbour localities with the highest percentage of LGBTIQ+ people.

This suggests that while foreign LGBTIQ+ people tend to gravitate towards more affluent north harbour localities, less affluent harbour localities boast relatively higher percentages of Maltese LGBTIQ+ people.

Numerically it is Malta’s three most populous localities – St Paul’s Bay (260), Birkirkara (318) and Mosta (252) – which boast the largest community of Maltese LGBTIQ+ people. But in all these three localities LGBTIQ+ people account for less than 2.1% of their respective population.

The census also shows that the discrepancy between the relatively low number of Maltese LGBTIQ+ people and the higher numbers of non-heterosexual foreigners is more pronounced in certain localities.

For example, Sliema, which has an ageing local population, only has 122 Maltese people (1.4%) identified as LGBTIQ+. But the locality also includes 610 LGBTIQ non-Maltese residents which raise the total percentage to 4.1%.

The census also shows that 13% of the expat LGBTIQ+ community lives in St Paul’s Bay (749) followed by Sliema (610) where 11% of the non-heterosexual foreigners live.

Marsalforn is Gozo’s gayest town

In Gozo, only 1.8% of the total population identified as LGBTIQ+. Gozo’s 605 strong LGBTIQ+ community included 256 Maltese citizens and 349 foreigners. Żebbuġ, which includes Marsalforn, registers the highest percentage of LGBTIQ+ people (2.9%).

But Gozo’s most populous town, Victoria, boasts the largest number of LGBTIQ+ people (143). These account for 2.3% of Rabat’s population.

Overall, the census shows that there were 11,073 LGBTIQ+ people living in Malta in 2021.

These included 5,349 Maltese citizens and 5,724 people hailing from other countries.

While only 1.6% of Maltese citizens declared themselves as having an LGBTIQ+ orientation, the percentage rises to 5.5% among foreign nationals living here.

MGRM spokesperson Alex Caruana welcomed the census results which give recognition to the community but described the figures as ‘the tip of the iceberg’, noting that older Maltese respondents particularly those who have never had the opportunity to come out, may have been reluctant to declare their LGBTIQ+ sexual orientation in the census.