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A new study conducted by the University’s Faculty for Social Wellbeing sheds light on the sentiments of those residing in Southern Malta about their quality of life, governance and other aspects.

The study unveiled a number of interesting findings, with the overall ones being that the majority of respondents expressed satisfaction with their locality as their place of residence, but mentioned a significant dissatisfaction in some key areas.

• The majority (53%) feel a high sense of community, with Santa Lucija residents showing the highest satisfaction rates, and Marsa residents showing the lowest
• Only 53.8% knew what regional council they belong to, and only 17.8% of those expressed satisfaction with it
• Suggestions to improve regional councils included better communication with residents, listening more to their concerns and more upkeep of the locality
• Dissatisfaction was noted in traffic and parking (75%), noise and air pollution (61.6%), and urban development (51.7%)
• Satisfaction was reported with schools (61.6%) religious activities (56.7%) and accessibility (55.7%)
• A low satisfaction rate with local councils (37.1%) was noted, coupled with a lack of awareness regarding the roles of councillors (32.1%)

The Southern Regional Council comprises BirżebbuÄ¡a, Għaxaq, Luqa, Qormi, Gudja, Ħamrun, Marsa, Å»ejtun, Marsascala, Marsaxlokk, Santa LuÄ‹ija, and Santa Venera, hosting a total resident population of 106,593 in 2021 – 17.59% of whom are non-Maltese. This marks a 19% increase since 2011, as per national data. While all localities experienced population growth except for Santa LuÄ‹ija, Marsascala saw the highest increase.

According to data from the National Statistics Office, Birżebbuġa has the highest percentage of foreign nationals living in the locality at 28.92%. Most participants in the study, accounting for 24.3%, were aged 66 and over. Qormi had the highest number of respondents at 17.1%, followed by Żejtun and Marsascala at 11.2%.

Data was gathered, through telephonic questionnaires, from representatives of the top seven nationalities in the region, namely Italy, India, the Philippines, the Syrian Arab Republic, the UK, Serbia and Somalia.

The research was led by the Dean of the FSW, Prof. Andrew Azzopardi, Dr Maria Brown (its principal investigator) from the Faculty of Education, and research support officers Ms Maria Giulia Borg, Ms Stephanie Bugeja and Ms Ruth Mifsud. 

In response to the findings, recommendations were proposed, such as educational and awareness campaigns to inform the public about the functions of local councils, improvement in the quality of services provided by them, and the establishment of more communal spaces for community engagement. The impact of bureaucratic processes on the functions of local and regional councils was also highlighted, along with the need to conduct further research to delve deeper into topics such as the composition of residents within localities.