Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1475206
8 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 3 AUGUST 2022 Census spotlight: Children in Gharghur, Which towns have most children? Where do senior citizens live? James Debono goes through Census 2021 to fish out the answers Where the children live Children under the age of 14 account for nearly one fifth of the population of Gharghur, a rural locality bordering on more densely populated urban centres like Swieqi, San Gwann and Naxxar. Over the past decade, Ghar- ghur has attracted an influx of more affluent middle-class families, reversing a decline in the village population. Gharghur's population, which declined from 2,321 in 1985 to 1,991 in 1995, has consistently increased in the following dec- ades, reaching 3,741 in 2021. Of these 717 are aged under 14. Children also account for 17% of the population of rural Mgarr and the southern sea- side town of Xghajra, followed by south eastern towns like Qrendi, Ghaxaq and Zurrieq. With the exception of Ghar- ghur, Mgarr, Siggiewi and San- ta Venera, the top ten localities with the largest percentage of children are located in the southern regions. Children still account for over 15% of Marsaskala's population but in an indication that the seaside town is getting older the per- centage is down from 20% in the 2011 census. In fact, 34% of Marsaskala's population is now aged between 25 and 44. On the other end of the lowest percentage of children is found in Mdina, Gzira and Msida. Gzira is an interesting case of a locality whose population has grown by more than 3,000 people in the past decade but which has grown exclusive- ly thanks to an influx of for- eign workers and not families raising children. Nearly half of Gzira's population (47%) is aged between 25 and 44. Where young people live In most Maltese localities young people aged between 15 and 24 account for less than 10% of the total population. It is only in Mtarfa, Birzebbuga and Pembroke that the percent- age of young people surpasses the 14% mark. Mtarfa, a suburb of Rabat, which developed around social housing accommodation is one of the few localities whose popu- lation has remained stable since 2005 when it was included for the first time in the census. Since then, its population has only increased by 140. This sug- gests that Mtarfa's original pop- ulation, is slowly ageing - near- ly 35% of its population is now aged between 45 and 64. The high rate of young people in Birzebbuga reflects the influx of new people to the seaside lo- cality between 1995 and 2011, when the locality's population grew by 3,105. But unlike Mtarfa, Birzebbu- ga's population is not static and has grown by a further 1,432 in the past decade. Pembroke, which back in 2011 had the largest percentage of children under 14-year-olds (20%), now has the third largest percentage of youths (14%). But the percentage of children under 14 in Pembroke has shrunk from 20% to 14%. Localities with highest under-14 ratio (% of locality's population) Localities with with least under-14 ratio (% of locality's population) Localities with highest young people (15 to 24) ratio (% of locality's population) Gharghur Mgarr Xghajra Qrendi Ghaxaq Zurrieq Siggiewi Mqabba Zabbar Santa Venera Marsakala 19.2 17.4 17.0 16.3 15.9 15.7 15.6 15.5 15.3 15.2 15.2 Mdina Gzira Msida Birgu Floriana 5.7 8.2 8.6 8.5 9.0 Mtarfa Birzebbuga Pembroke Ghasri Marsa Sa Xghajra Mqabba Munxar Kirkop 16.8 15.8 14.0 12.4 11.9 11.8 11.7 11.7 11.3 11.2