98 Facts About Malta

Malta increasingly is referred to as a city-state, and listed in rankings concerning cities or metropolitan areas.

Malta is one of the two island countries in the Mediterranean, along with Cyprus.

Malta became a British colony in 1813, serving as a way station for ships and the headquarters for the British Mediterranean Fleet.

Malta has had Christians since the time of Early Christianity, though was predominantly Muslim while under Arab rule, at which time Christians were tolerated.

The economy of Malta is heavily reliant on tourism, and the country promotes itself as a Mediterranean tourist destination with its warmer climate compared to the rest of Europe, numerous recreational areas, and architectural and historical monuments, including three UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Hal Saflieni Hypogeum, Valletta, and seven megalithic temples which are some of the oldest free-standing structures in the world.

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Origin of the name Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation is derived from the Maltese language.

Malta has been inhabited from around 5900 BC, since the arrival of settlers originating from European Neolithic agriculturalists.

Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Elizabeth II as queen, with a governor-general exercising authority on her behalf.

On 31 March 1979, Malta saw the withdrawal of the last British troops and the Royal Navy from Malta.

Malta joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 and joined the Eurozone on 1 January 2008.

The population on Malta grew cereals, raised livestock and, in common with other ancient Mediterranean cultures, worshiped a fertility figure represented in Maltese prehistoric artifacts exhibiting the proportions seen in similar statuettes, including the Venus of Willendorf.

In 395, when the Roman Empire was divided for the last time at the death of Theodosius I, Malta, following Sicily, fell under the control of the Western Roman Empire.

Malta remained under the Byzantine Empire until 870, when it fell to the Arabs.

Malta became involved in the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the conquest of Malta is closely linked with that of Sicily that began in 827 after Admiral Euphemius' betrayal of his fellow Byzantines, requesting that the Aghlabids invade the island.

Malta became part of the newly formed Kingdom of Sicily, which covered the island of Sicily and the southern half of the Italian Peninsula.

Malta was declared a county and a marquisate, but its trade was totally ruined.

Malta was ruled by the House of Barcelona, the ruling dynasty of the Crown of Aragon, from 1282 to 1409, with the Aragonese aiding the Maltese insurgents in the Sicilian Vespers in the naval battle in Grand Harbour in 1283.

These knights, a military religious order known as the Order of St John and later as the Knights of Malta, had been driven out of Rhodes by the Ottoman Empire in 1522.

Malta reformed national administration with the creation of a Government Commission, twelve municipalities, a public finance administration, the abolition of all feudal rights and privileges, the abolition of slavery and the granting of freedom to all Turkish and Jewish slaves.

Malta then sailed for Egypt leaving a substantial garrison in Malta.

In 1814, as part of the Treaty of Paris, Malta officially became a part of the British Empire and was used as a shipping way-station and fleet headquarters.

Between 1915 and 1918, during the First World War, Malta became known as the Nurse of the Mediterranean due to the large number of wounded soldiers who were accommodated in Malta.

Malta was used by the British to launch attacks on the Italian navy and had a submarine base.

The bravery of the Maltese people during the second Siege of Malta moved King George VI to award the George Cross to Malta on a collective basis on 15 April 1942 "to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history".

Malta achieved its independence as the State of Malta on 21 September 1964 after intense negotiations with the United Kingdom, led by Maltese Prime Minister George Borg Olivier.

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Under its 1964 constitution, Malta initially retained Queen Elizabeth II as Queen of Malta and thus head of state, with a governor-general exercising executive authority on her behalf.

Malta is a republic whose parliamentary system and public administration are closely modelled on the Westminster system.

Malta had the second-highest voter turnout in the world, based on election turnout in national lower house elections from 1960 to 1995.

The 80th article of the Constitution of Malta provides that the president appoint as prime minister ".

Since Malta is a republic, the head of state in Malta is the President of the Republic.

Malta has had a system of local government since 1993, based on the European Charter of Local Self-Government.

Objectives of the Armed Forces of Malta are to maintain a military organisation with the primary aim of defending the islands' integrity according to the defence roles as set by the government in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

In 2020, Malta signed and ratified the UN treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

Malta was considered an island of North Africa for centuries.

Phytogeographically, Malta belongs to the Liguro-Tyrrhenian province of the Mediterranean Region within the Boreal Kingdom.

Malta has a Mediterranean climate, with mild winters and hot summers, hotter in the inland areas.

Sometimes Malta is listed in rankings concerning cities or metropolitan areas.

The flora and biodiversity of Malta is severely endangered by habitat loss, invasive species and human intervention.

Malta is classified as an advanced economy together with 32 other countries according to the International Monetary Fund.

Until 1800, Malta depended on cotton, tobacco and its shipyards for exports.

In 1869, the opening of the Suez Canal gave Malta's economy a great boost, as there was a massive increase in the shipping which entered the port.

Malta produces only about 20 percent of its food needs, has limited fresh water supplies because of the drought in the summer, and has no domestic energy sources, aside from the potential for solar energy from its plentiful sunlight.

Additionally, residents of Malta exhibited an ecological footprint of consumption of 5.

Malta has served as a "double" for a wide variety of locations and historic periods including Ancient Greece, Ancient and modern Rome, Iraq, the Middle East and many more.

Malta has a financial regulator, the Malta Financial Services Authority, with a strong business development mindset, and the country has been successful in attracting gaming businesses, aircraft and ship registration, credit-card issuing banking licences and fund administration.

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Malta has made strong headway in implementing EU Financial Services Directives including UCITs IV and Alternative Investment Fund Managers.

Central Bank of Malta has two key areas of responsibility: the formulation and implementation of monetary policy and the promotion of a sound and efficient financial system.

Car ownership in Malta is exceedingly high, considering the very small size of the islands; it is the fourth-highest in the European Union.

Malta took over the bus service on 8 January 2015, while retaining the name Malta Public Transport.

From 1883 to 1931 Malta had a railway line that connected Valletta to the army barracks at Mtarfa via Mdina and a number of towns and villages.

Malta has three large natural harbours on its main island:.

The owners of Air Malta are the Government of Malta and private investors (2 percent).

Air Malta employs 1, 547 staff along with having a 25 percent share in Medavia.

Air Malta has concluded over 191 interline ticketing agreements with other IATA airlines.

In September 2007, Air Malta made two agreements with Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways by which Air Malta wet-leased two Airbus aircraft to Etihad Airways for the winter period starting 1 September 2007, and provided operational support on another Airbus A320 aircraft which it leased to Etihad Airways.

The Government of Malta holds one share in the airline whereby it holds rights to the brand name.

Malta uses the GSM900, UMT and LTE(4G) mobile phone systems, which are compatible with the rest of the European countries, Australia and New Zealand.

Malta has produced collectors' coins with face value ranging from 10 to 50 euros.

In recent years, Malta has advertised itself as a medical tourism destination, and a number of health tourism providers are developing the industry.

Malta is popular with British medical tourists, pointing Maltese hospitals towards seeking UK-sourced accreditation, such as with the Trent Accreditation Scheme.

Malta signed a co-operation agreement with the European Space Agency for more-intensive co-operation in ESA projects.

Malta was ranked 27th in the Global Innovation Index in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Malta conducts a census of population and housing every ten years.

Malta's old-age-dependency-ratio is expected to continue rising steadily in the coming years.

Malta voted in favour of divorce legislation in a referendum held on 28 May 2011.

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Maltese language is one of the two constitutional languages of Malta, having become official, however, only in 1934, and being considered as the national language.

The second article of the Constitution of Malta establishes Catholicism as the state religion and it is reflected in various elements of Maltese culture, although entrenched provisions for the freedom of religion are made.

Malta is an Apostolic See; the Acts of the Apostles tells of how St Paul, on his way from Jerusalem to Rome to face trial, was shipwrecked on the island of "Melite", which many Bible scholars identify with Malta, an episode dated around AD 60.

The last recorded Bishop of Malta before the invasion of the islands was a Greek named Manas, who was incarcerated at Palermo.

Various Catholic religious orders are present in Malta, including the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites and Little Sisters of the Poor.

Jewish population of Malta reached its peak in the Middle Ages under Norman rule.

In 2019 the Jewish community in Malta gathered around 150 persons, slightly more than the 120 estimated in 2003, and mostly elderly.

In 2013 the Chabad Jewish Center in Malta was founded by Rabbi Haim Shalom Segal and his wife, Haya Moshka Segal.

In 2016, following the abolishment of blasphemy law, Malta was shifted to the category of "systematic discrimination".

Malta is home to a large number of foreign workers who migrated to the island for economic opportunity.

Salaries in Malta have risen very slowly and very marginally over the years, making life on the island much harder than it was a few years ago.

Consequently, some expats in Malta have seen their relative financial fortunes decline, with others relocating to other European countries altogether.

Since the late 20th century, Malta has become a transit country for migration routes from Africa towards Europe.

However, irregular migrants who land in Malta are subject to a compulsory detention policy, being held in several camps organised by the Armed Forces of Malta, including those near Hal Far and Hal Safi.

In January 2014, Malta started granting citizenship for a €650, 000 contribution plus investments, contingent on residence and criminal background checks.

Malta experienced significant emigration as a result of the collapse of a construction boom in 1907 and immediately after the Second World War, when the birth rate increased significantly.

However, since Malta joined the EU in 2004 expatriate communities emerged in a number of European countries, particularly in Belgium and Luxembourg.

Private schools prefer to use English for teaching, as is the case with most departments of the University of Malta; this has a limiting effect on the capacity and development of the Maltese language.

Malta is a popular destination to study the English language, attracting over 83, 000 students in 2019.

Malta has a long history of providing publicly funded health care.

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Today, Malta has both a public healthcare system, known as the government healthcare service, where healthcare is free at the point of delivery, and a private healthcare system.

Malta has a strong general practitioner-delivered primary care base and the public hospitals provide secondary and tertiary care.

University of Malta has a medical school and a Faculty of Health Sciences, the latter offering diploma, degree and postgraduate degree courses in a number of health care disciplines.

Medical Association of Malta represents practitioners of the medical profession.

The Malta Medical Students' Association is a separate body representing Maltese medical students, and is a member of EMSA and IFMSA.

The Malta Association of Dental Students is a student association set up to promote the rights of Dental Surgery Students studying within the faculty of Dental Surgery of the University of Malta.

Culture of Malta reflects the various cultures, from the Phoenicians to the British, that have come into contact with the Maltese Islands throughout the centuries, including neighbouring Mediterranean cultures, and the cultures of the nations that ruled Malta for long periods of time prior to its independence in 1964.

Malta followed a Romantic literary tradition, culminating in the works of Dun Karm Psaila, Malta's national poet.

Malta is currently undergoing several large-scale building projects, while areas such as the Valletta Waterfront and Tigne Point have been or are being renovated.

Artistic heritage of Malta blossomed under the Knights of St John, who brought Italian and Flemish Mannerist painters to decorate their palaces and the churches of these islands, most notably, Matteo Perez d'Aleccio, whose works appear in the Magisterial Palace and in the Conventual Church of St John in Valletta, and Filippo Paladini, who was active in Malta from 1590 to 1595.

Malta International Fireworks Festival is an annual festival that has been arranged in the Grand Harbour of Valletta since 2003.

The Malta Broadcasting Authority supervises all local broadcasting stations and ensures their compliance with legal and licence obligations as well as the preservation of due impartiality; in respect of matters of political or industrial controversy or relating to current public policy; while fairly apportioning broadcasting facilities and time between persons belong to different political parties.

In 2018 Malta hosted its first Esports tournament, 'Supernova CS:GO Malta', a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament with a $150, 000 prize pool.