MaltaMedia.com

The National Statistics Office has reported that the total number of women in 2008 stood at 207,736, of whom 22 per cent were between 50 and 64 years old.

A demographic analysis reveals that the total number of women in 2008 stood at 207,736. 22 per cent were aged between 50 and 64, with nearly the same proportion being calculated for women aged between 20 and 34. The percentage of females aged 65 and over was 4 per cent higher than that for males.

The expectation of life for females stood at 82 in 2008, an increase of 39 years since 1930. The total fertility rate decreased from 3.6 in 1960 to 1.4 in 2008. Birth statistics also show an increasing trend in the average age of mothers at first birth, from 23 in 1960 to 27 in 2008. In the same year, 43 per cent of brides in Malta were aged between 25 and 29. Nearly 70 per cent of total brides in this year were Maltese.

According to a survey in 2008, 71 per cent of female respondents aged 15 and over said that they do less than 10 minutes of moderate exercise per week. 23 per cent of female respondents said that they exercise moderately for more than 1 hour, compared to 27 per cent of males.

This survey also highlighted trends related to smoking habits. Nearly 16 per cent of female respondents said that they smoked on a daily basis, while 79 per cent said that they did not smoke at all. It also emerged that the proportion of male smokers was higher than that of females. In fact, regular male smokers exceeded that of females by nearly 10 percentage points.

Figures from the 2008 Survey on Income and Living Conditions revealed that 16 per cent of the total female population living in households was at risk of poverty. This figure stood at 14 per cent among males. Significant differences were recorded in the at-risk-of-poverty rates for different age groups among women and varied from 13 per cent for the 25-49 year old age group to 20 per cent for women aged under 18 and those aged 65 and over.

The employment rate for females aged between 15 and 64 increased from 34 per cent in 2003 to 37 per cent in 2008, as calculated from the Labour Force Survey. Over the same time span, both the unemployment rate and the inactivity rate for females in the same age group registered decreases. The unemployment rate decreased from 9 per cent to 7 per cent, while the inactivity rate decreased from 63 per cent to 60 per cent.