Maltese youth a laggard in NGO participation

Maltese youth participation in NGOs is 15 points lower than in the entire EU, a Europe-wide survey has revealed.

Maltese participations in sport clubs is 18 points lower than the EU average.

The Eurobarometer survey shows that 62% of Maltese youths aged 15 to 30, have not participated in any activity organised by non-governmental organisations in the past year – an increase of 7 points from 2014.

Only Cyprus, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia registered lower participation.

Maltese youths were most likely to have attended activities organised by sports clubs (11%). But significantly this participation declined by 17 points when compared to 2014. This was considerably lower than the EU average where 29% attended at least one such activity.

Also low was Maltese youth participation in leisure-time youth clubs: 7% in Malta compared to 20% in the whole EU. Participation in cultural organisations was also significantly lower in Malta, 6% compared to 15% in the whole EU.

The percentage of young people who attended activities organised by a political organisation however increased from 3% in 2014 to 5% now. This increase coincided with the general elections held in June 2017.

Only 1% of young people participated in activities organised by environmental NGOs,  compared to 5% in the whole European Union.   

The survey did not categorise participation in religious NGOs. This may explain a high rate of 9% of Maltese young people active in activities organised by “other” NGOs.

Maltese youths were also among the least likely to participate in voluntary activities.  While 31% of young people participated in such activities in the whole EU, only 23% of Maltese young people did so.

Yet nearly a tenth (9%) of Maltese youth have been at least once abroad for the purpose of volunteering, reflecting the EU average.

Austrian and Italian youths (both 79%), and Maltese (78%) were the most likely to have voted in local, national or European elections in the previous three years. Luxembourgish (35%), Irish (36%) and Belgians (40%) were the least likely to have done so.