Gozo: eco-island or new cosmopolis? Study to find carrying capacity

How many people could possibly live – comfortably – on the island of Gozo? That’s a question the Gozo Regional Development Authority (GRDA) wants answered by a carrying-capacity study for the sister island.

Now home to at least 39,000 residents, which include Maltese residents who own a second home in Gozo, the GRDA wants to find out which “areas or sectors” are close to saturation point, giving rise to pressures on infrastructure and landscape.

The study will focus on the Gozitan island’s transport, roads, energy and water distribution systems, land and natural resources, and economic industry and public services, to see how well the island is served for its developmental needs.

The GRDA will use the study to create new regional policies for Gozo, both for its socio-economic development as well as for the sustainable management of its land resources and protection of the environment.

The study will have to assess Gozo’s present carrying capacity, by identifying deficient factors for the island’s infrastructure, environment, and economic development; identify critical infrastructural and environmental problems; as well as limiting factors in land resources, energy supply, waste treatment, and healthcare provision.

The carrying capacity will be also provide three sustainability scenarios – conservative, high sustainability, low sustainability & degenerative.

According to the 2021 Census, the Gozitan locality of Żebbuġ, which also includes the sprawling Marsalforn seafront, has seen its resident population nearly doubling from just 1,841 in 2011 to 3,303 in 2021, thanks to an increase in the locality’s foreign population from 125 to 1,371.

The number of Maltese residents in Żebbuġ has also increased by 216. But foreigners now account for 42% of Żebbuġ population up from 7% ten years ago. Żebbuġ growth mirrors that of Munxar which includes Xlendi, which has also seen its foreign population increase from 94 to 619.

Gozo in general has seen a sevenfold increase in the number of foreign residents; from 1,357 to 7,662 since 2011. On the other hand, the number of Maltese nationals in Gozo has grown marginally by 1,607.

26% of foreigners in Gozo live in Żebbuġ and Xlendi. Żebbuġ has now become Gozo’s sixth largest locality surpassing Sannat which was more populous ten years ago. Rabat, which has grown by 990 residents since 2011, remains Gozo’s largest town, followed by Xagħra which had already surpassed Nadur as Gozo’s second largest city in 2011. The census preceded the approval of a number of five-storey blocks enveloping towns like Qala and Xagħra, which are bound to further increase the density of the island which has already increased from 422 inhabitants per sq.km in 1995 to 572 inhabitants per sq.km in 2021.