Malta home to 82,000 children in 2022
A decline in Maltese children registered between 2011 and 2022 was offset by a seven-fold increase in foreign children, NSO figures released to mark World Children’s Day show
![Malta has experienced a decade of decline in children born to Maltese parents that was offset by a seven-fold increase in foreign children](http://content.maltatoday.com.mt/ui/images/photos/10-11_tr_digital_children_3.jpg)
Malta was home to almost 82,000 children by the end of 2022, 5,000 more than 11 years earlier, the National Statistics Office said on Monday.
The difference is attributable to a seven-fold increase in foreign children that compensated for a decline of 7,000 Maltese children during the decade.
The figures released to coincide with World Children’s Day celebrated today, focus on children between the ages of 0 and 17.
At the end of 2022, there were 81,963 children, making up 15.1% of the population. Of these, 82.1% were Maltese children (67,272) and 17.9% were foreign (14,691). Malta’s total population stood at 542,051 by December 2022, which was 100,000 more than 2011.
![Source: NSO](http://content.maltatoday.com.mt/ui/images/photos/world_children's_day.jpg)
A regional breakdown shows that the South-eastern Region had the highest percentage of children at 17% when compared to the region’s total population. This was followed by the Western Region with 16.2% and the Northern Region with 16%.
Gozo and the Southern Harbour regions were in line the national ratio at 15.1% and 15% respectively of their populations being children, while the Northern Harbour Region had the lowest ratio at 13.4%.
The NSO figures show that there were 33,120 boys and 30,968 girls aged between 3 and 17 enrolled in formal education during the scholastic year 2021-2022.