NUTS-3 MT001 · Malta
Population
532,9972025
GDP
€22,102M2024
Unemployment· NUTS-2 source
3.1%2025
Employment· NUTS-2 source
83.6%2025
Active firms· FR-only
—
Cadastral parcels· FR-only
—
Area
241.2 km²
TerraSight · Compare
2 regions side-by-side
MT001 · IE042
Decision brief
Download brief (PDF)mandate-neutral · ranked by overall opportunity
Best overall fit: West (Opportunity 68). Runner-up: Malta (61). Contrarian pick: Malta — leads the set on Demographic outlook (EU pctl 97).
#2Malta
Strengths
Demographic outlook (97) · Growth momentum (93)
Red flags
Industrial base (EU bottom 15%)
Why you might not pick West
Energy cost (EU bottom 15%). Its weakest dimension is Energy cost (EU pctl 1) — Malta may suit a mandate that weights that higher.
How robust is this recommendation?
West leads under all four archetype mandates — the recommendation is weight-stable.
Phase-2 diligence checklist
- Site-level grid connection capacity and power pricing (beyond country-grain energy data)
- Local incentives, tax regimes and permitting timelines
- Workforce depth for your specific roles (the talent pillar is a proxy)
- Real-estate availability, rents and land — public pan-EU data stops at the Nordics
This is a mandate-neutral read. To weight the pillars to your thesis, run these regions through the Site Screener — it ranks all 1,211 regions under your weights and exports the full PDF. First-pass macro screening, not investment advice.
Composite intelligence · 0–100 EU-percentile scores
Opportunity Indexscale + growth + access + structure
61.4
67.5
Resilience Indexdiversification, stability, buffers
53.3
31.0
Quality of Lifeprosperity, health, safety, environment
55.6
57.8
Connectivitytransit + air + market access
36.7
49.7
Talent & Human Capitalskills, learning, knowledge workers
66.0
81.5
Growth Momentumrecent GDP / employment trajectory
93.0
86.0
Trajectories · 2012–latest
Real GDP (2020 prices)
7.3% 5y
6.7% 5y
Population
2.2% 5y
1.9% 5y
Unemployment rate
8.7% 5y
0.8% 5y
Derived comparisons
GDP per capita
€41,468
€59,174
Population density
2,209 /km²
36 /km²
Parcels per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
Firms per 1k pop
FR-only
FR-only
All indicators · 88 metrics (Eurostat, all-EU)
Economy
Gross value added, total (current prices)
€20,480M
€29,129M
GVA — agriculture, forestry & fishing (A)
€100M
€380M
GVA — industry (B–E)
€1,577M
€12,088M
GVA — manufacturing (C)
€1,272M
€11,219M
GVA — construction (F)
€722M
€1,193M
GVA — wholesale/retail, transport, ICT (G–J)
€6,352M
€5,822M
Net disposable household income per capita (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
€21,200
€26,200
GDP per capita in PPS (purchasing-power adjusted)
45,200 PPS
50,700 PPS
GDP per capita (current prices, EUR)
€41,800
€59,900
Gross fixed capital formation — investment (total economy) ·N2
€4,280M
€7,935M
Investment in manufacturing capex (GFCF, NACE C) ·N2
€228M
€2,209M
Compensation of employees (total wage bill) ·N2
€9,681M
€18,607M
GVA — real estate activities (L)
€1,670M
€1,757M
GVA — information & communication (J)
€2,623M
€1,486M
GVA — finance, real estate & professional (K–N)
€6,926M
€4,736M
GVA — public admin, health & education (O–U)
€4,803M
€4,911M
Real GDP (constant 2020 prices, incl. short-term forecast)
€19,527M
€28,890M
Labour productivity per person employed (EUR)
€73,251
€136,135
Gross fixed capital formation, NUTS-3 (ARDECO)
€4,184M
€5,875M
Labour market
Employment, total persons
308,430
250,020
Self-employed persons
41,350
43,120
Employment in manufacturing (C)
23,700
38,250
Activity rate, 15–64 (NUTS-2 source) ·N2
82.6%
77.5%
Youth unemployment rate (15–24) ·N2
9.6%
13.4%
Unemployment rate 15-74, NUTS-3 native (ARDECO)
3.1%
4.7%
Labour force aged 15+ (ARDECO)
317,200
276,300
Business demography
Active enterprises (business economy, all sizes)
52,349
35,534
Enterprise births
8,968
3,755
Enterprise deaths
3,384
4,709
3-year enterprise survival rate
6.2%
4.8%
Innovation & R&D
R&D expenditure as % of GDP ·N2
0.5%
1.4%
Employment in high-tech sectors (% of total) ·N2
5.7%
6.3%
R&D personnel (% of active population, FTE) ·N2
0.8%
2.5%
Education
Tertiary education attainment, age 25–64 ·N2
37.7%
53.2%
Tertiary attainment, age 25–34 (young talent pool) ·N2
47.7%
61.2%
Adult participation in learning, age 25–64 (last 4 weeks) ·N2
19.7%
13.0%
Knowledge workers — tertiary-educated & in science/tech (% of labour force) ·N2
22.1%
27.7%
Scientists & engineers (% of labour force) ·N2
9.0%
11.9%
Digital
Households with internet access ·N2
97.8%
92.8%
Tourism
Nights spent at tourist accommodation (total)
10,982,334
5,692,982
Mobility
Passenger cars per 1,000 inhabitants ·N2
576 /1k
458 /1k
Road freight loaded (annual, thousand tonnes)
—
11,040 kt
Distinct public-transport stop locations within the region (GTFS feeds, deduplicated across overlapping feeds by coordinate). A measure of transit-network extent.
1
1,300
Public-transport stops per 100,000 inhabitants — transit service density relative to population (GTFS feeds, coordinate-deduplicated).
0
252
Motorway density (km per 1,000 km²) ·N2
—
5 km/1000km²
Distance from the region centroid to the nearest major (large) airport, in km - air-connectivity accessibility. Lower is better.
9
29
Number of major (large) airports within 100 km of the region centroid - air-hub catchment richness.
1
1
Demography
Population aged 15–64 (working age)
371,952
334,052
Population aged 65+
96,499
90,182
Population aged under 15
64,546
92,751
Median age of population
39.8 yrs
40.6 yrs
Old-age dependency ratio (65+ / 15–64)
25.9%
27.0%
Crude rate of total population change
19.9 /1k
25.6 /1k
Crude rate of net migration plus adjustment
19.4 /1k
22.7 /1k
Crude birth rate
7.7 /1k
9.8 /1k
Crude death rate
7.3 /1k
6.9 /1k
Live births
4,055
4,987
Deaths
3,839
3,498
Total age-dependency ratio (young+old / 15-64)
43.3%
54.8%
Total fertility rate (births per woman)
1.01
1.55
Population density (persons per km²)
2,154 /km²
37 /km²
Projected population, 2030–2040 (EUROPOP2019 baseline)
668,272
586,284
Social
At risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) ·N2
19.4%
24.7%
Life expectancy at birth ·N2
83.0 yrs
83.2 yrs
At-risk-of-poverty rate (regional) ·N2
16.9%
20.9%
Health
Hospital beds per 100k inhabitants ·N2
—
276 /100k
Mortality, all causes (age-standardised rate) ·N2
904 /100k
885 /100k
Cancer mortality (age-standardised rate) ·N2
193 /100k
239 /100k
Safety & crime
Intentional homicides per 100k inhabitants
1.0 /100k
0.2 /100k
Robberies per 100k inhabitants
46.7 /100k
5.6 /100k
Burglaries per 100k inhabitants
132 /100k
108 /100k
Thefts per 100k inhabitants
785 /100k
634 /100k
Road traffic deaths per million inhabitants ·N2
21 /M
58 /M
Governance & institutions
Government effectiveness, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.91
1.71
Regulatory quality, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.56
1.77
Rule of law, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.85
1.50
Control of corruption, WGI score -2.5..2.5 (country)
0.45
1.65
Political stability & absence of violence, WGI score (country)
0.93
0.81
Energy
Industrial electricity price, 2-20 GWh band, excl. taxes (national)
€0.116/kWh
€0.212/kWh
Industrial gas price, 10-100k GJ band, excl. taxes (national)
—
€0.057/kWh
Climate
Elevation at region centroid (Copernicus DEM)
92 m
62 m
Hot days ≥30°C (avg per year)
33 days/yr
0 days/yr
Frost days ≤0°C (avg per year)
0 days/yr
16 days/yr
Heavy-precipitation days ≥20mm (avg per year)
3 days/yr
8 days/yr