MaltaMedia.com

‘Ensuring work-family balance’ is the theme for this year’s International Day of Families, commemorated on 15 May, the National Statistics Office (NSO) said.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states that this year’s International Day of Families highlights the need for work-family balance. “The aim is to help workers everywhere provide for their families financially and emotionally, while also contributing to the socio-economic development of their societies.”

The National Statistics Office is marking this day with the release of a number of data related to this theme.

NSO said the number of marriages registered in Malta last year totalled 2,562, a decline of 1.3 per cent when compared to the previous year. For both brides (44 per cent) and grooms (37 per cent), the 25-29 age group accounted for the largest number of newly-weds.

The total live births in 2011 stood at 4,285. Most babies were born to parents aged 30-34, with 33 per cent of mothers and 36 per cent of fathers belonging to this age group. Almost 23 per cent of all births were outside marriage.

According to the Survey on Income and Living Conditions for 2010, single-person households were the most common household type, accounting for 19 per cent of all households.

Households comprising two adults and two dependent children accounted for the largest proportion of households with dependent children.

The survey also revealed that while 32 per cent of households comprising persons of working age had full work intensity, the percentage of households with zero work intensity stood at 18 per cent. As expected, a household’s work intensity is highly correlated to its average disposable income, with values ranging from €29,047 in households with full work intensity to €10,680 in households with zero work intensity.

NSO noticed a similar trend when comparing the atrisk-of-poverty rate for persons living in the two household types.

Children who made use of childcare facilities at centre-based services or day-care centres spent a weekly average of 7 hours there, while the average number of hours spent by children being cared for by grandparents, other household members (excluding parents), relatives, friends or neighbours stood at 14 hours.

Survey results show that in households with a higher work intensity, children availing of these childcare options (excluding schools) spent an average 2 to 3 hours more per week in childcare.

The Labour Force Survey revealed that the employment rate stood at 58 per cent in 2011: 74 per cent for males and 41 per cent for females. While the employment rate for married males was higher than that for single males, the opposite was true for females, as was the case for activity rates.

The average hours worked by employed persons stood at 39 hours per week. The survey showed that, on average, women worked 6 hours less than men each week. For males, the highest number of hours worked (43 hours per week) were put in by those who were divorced, legally separated or annulled. On average, women with this marital status worked 34 hours per week.