Overview
Youth Policy in Malta falls under the responsibility of central authorities. The core responsibility lies with The Ministry for Education, Sport, Youth, Research and Innovation and the Parliamentary Secretary, for Education, Youth, Research and Innovation. However, due to its transversal nature different Ministries are responsible for particular policy fields that affect young people.
Up to the early 1990s Malta had no coherent youth policy, it had education policies, health policies, culture policies and other policies that directly or indirectly affect young people, but a standalone youth policy was missing.
In 1991 the National Youth Council – Kunsill Nazzjonali Żgħażagħ (KNŻ) – was set up. A year later, in 1992, the Institute for Youth Studies was established at the University of Malta. The following year in 1993, the then newly established Ministry for Youth and Art published the first youth policy document. Since then the document has been revised five times, each time reflecting more the realities of young people's lives at the time.
In 1998 the Maltese Association of Youth Workers (MAY) was set-up.
In 2010 Aġenzija Żgħażagħ, the Maltese National Youth Agency, was set up and has since been the implementing arm of the Parliamentary Secretariat for Youth. One of main aims of the agency is the coordination of the implementation youth policy.
The current youth policy, entitled 'Towards 2030. Reaching out to, working with and supporting young people' is operational between 2021-2030, and caters for young people aged 13 to 30. The overarching aims of this policy are to support and encourage young people in fulfilling their potential and aspirations while addressing their needs and concerns, and, to support young people as active and responsible citizens who fully participate in and contribute to the social, economic and cultural life of the nation, Europe and beyond.
Statistic references
References:
Ratio (%) of young people in the total population (2017): Eurostat, yth_demo_020 [data extracted on 4/09/2018].
Absolute number of young people on 1 January for the age group 15-29 (2017): Eurostat, yth_demo_010 [data extracted on 4/09/2018].
Ratio (%) of men and women in the youth population (2017): Eurostat, yth_demo_020 [data extracted on 4/09/2018].
Young immigrants from non-EU countries (2016): Eurostat, yth_demo_070 [data extracted on 4/09/2018].