Malta is having fewer children than ever, and the latest figures show just how dramatically the country’s demographics are changing.According to the Central Bank of Malta’s latest analysis of Eurostat population projections, Malta’s fertility rate was estimated at just 1.01 children per woman under the EUROPOP2025 base scenario, the lowest rate in the European Union.But Malta’s latest official population figures paint an even starker picture.The Central Bank noted that subsequent data published by the National Statistics Office placed Malta’s 2025 total fertility rate at just 0.98 children per woman.In other words, Malta has now fallen below an average of one child per woman.That puts the country well below the roughly 2.1 children per woman generally associated with replacement-level fertility in developed populations – the level at which a population can replace itself from one generation to the next without migration.And the decline has happened relatively quickly.Between 2017 and 2025, Malta’s fertility rate fell by an average of around 4% every year, with the Central Bank warning that a lower fertility path remains a likely trajectory in the very near term.The latest Eurostat projections have consequently downgraded expectations for Malta’s future fertility compared with previous demographic assumptions.According to the Central Bank, that change alone translates into an estimated 16,730 fewer people over the projection horizon than would have been expected under the previous assumptions.Eurostat’s baseline scenario does anticipate fertility gradually recovering in the years ahead. However, even that recovery would not be sufficient to offset the effects of Malta’s ageing population without continued migration.It paints an increasingly unusual demographic picture for the islands: Malta’s overall population has been growing rapidly, while the number of children being born continues to head in the opposite direction.In other words, Malta’s population may still be growing, but increasingly, it isn’t babies driving that growth.Why do you think fewer people in Malta are having children?•