Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1066826
14 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 DECEMBER 2018 NEWS hristmas specials • altaoday rey KURT SANSONE PEOPLE across the board have judged 2018 to be a good year for them, a Mal- taToday survey has found. Asked to look back on the past 12 months, 69% of people said 2018 was a good year. Only 9.1% said 2018 was a bad year for them. However, it appears people were less positive this year than last year when 77.3% had judged 2017 to be a good year. Even so, this year's judgement tal- lies with the expectation people had of 2018. In last year's survey, 66.4% had expected 2018 to be better than 2017. The latest MaltaToday survey showed that men were more positive about the outgoing year when compared to women. 72.9% of men said 2018 was a good year for them, while 58.3% of women felt likewise. The level of positivity dropped the older people got. The young reserved the best judge- ment with 76.8% saying 2018 was a good year, while 55% of the elderly (65+) delivered a positive judgement. On a regional basis, people living in the Northern region displayed the highest level of positivity with 72.1% saying 2018 was a good year. These were followed by Gozitans, among whom 69.7% said judged 2018 to be a good year. People in the South Eastern region were the least likely to judge 2018 as a good year, with 55.8% giving a positive assessment. Labour Party voters appear to have had an overwhelmingly positive year in 2018 with 81.5% saying the past 12 months were good. Nationalist voters were less optimistic. 44.1% of PN voters judged 2018 to be a positive year and 42.1% stood in the middle. While 13.9% of PN voters judged 2018 to be a bad year for them, only 5.7% of PL voters said 2018 was bad. as a good year srey finds IF going abroad on holiday is a measure of affluence 2018 ap- pears to have been a bonanza year because an absolute major- ity opted for a break overseas. The MaltaToday survey found that 52.9% of people went abroad for a holiday in 2018, an upward movement on the 47% who said they holidayed abroad in 2017. The strongest numbers of those who went abroad in 2018 were among those aged 36-50 (64.1%) and 18-35 (62.3%). The least likely to have gone abroad for a holiday were those aged 65 and over with only a quarter having done so in 2018. An absolute majority of people living in the Western, Northern and Gozo regions went abroad for a holiday, while an absolute majority of people living in the Southern Harbour, Northern Harbour and South Eastern re- gions did not. In the Northern and Western regions 57.9% holidayed abroad. This appears to contrast with the response over personal finances that showed how the least im- provement was registered in the Northern region. The apparent discord could be a result of people understating their personal financial situa- tion or despite not registering improvement they were still comfortable enough to take an overseas holiday. The highest number of people who did not holiday abroad were in the South Eastern region with 57.9% saying they did not travel overseas in 2018. The survey found that a big- ger majority of Nationalists went abroad for a holiday than Labour voters. While 56.8% of PN vot- ers said, they holidayed abroad in 2018, 51.4% of PL voters did likewise. aority hae holidayed aroad Respondents asked whether 2018 was a good year for them