Despite subsidies and pensions, statistical indicators show that thousands of people struggle to afford certain necessities.

Sergio Mallia

Verdict True but lacks context

Official EU-SILC statistics confirm that thousands of people still struggle to afford some things. In 2025, 18.7% of people, roughly 105,000, lived in households that could not meet an unexpected expense of about €950. But the longer trend shows a large improvement: material and social deprivation fell from 16.0% in 2015 to 8.7% in 2025, and severe deprivation halved, from 8.2% to 4.1%. Hardship persists, but it affects far fewer people than a decade ago.How we reached this verdict ↓

Analysis and evaluation

Thousands of people in Malta still cannot afford some things, but the share living in material deprivation has nearly halved in a decade.

What the individual indicators show

EU-SILC 2025 found that 18.7% of people lived in households unable to meet an unexpected expense of about €950, roughly 105,000 people. A separate indicator found that 27.6% could not afford a week's holiday away from home. Both point to financial strain, though a holiday is not usually counted as a basic necessity.

The official measure of deprivation

The official measure counts someone as materially and socially deprived if they cannot afford at least five of 13 items, including adequate meals, heating and replacing worn-out clothes. Seven or more counts as severe deprivation.

In 2025, about 49,000 people met the deprivation threshold, including about 23,000 in severe deprivation. So the 105,000 who could not meet an unexpected expense are not all deprived on the official measure. People counted under different indicators overlap, so the figures cannot be added together.

Deprivation has fallen since 2015

Survey year	Material and social deprivation	Severe deprivation
2015	16.0%	8.2%
2019	9.9%	5.0%
2020	9.4%	5.1%
2021	9.8%	5.4%
2022	9.6%	4.9%
2023	9.2%	4.1%
2024 (revised)	9.0%	4.3%
2025	8.7%	4.1%

Share of the population. Sources: NSO, EU-SILC 2023 and 2025; Ministry for Social Policy, Implementation and Evaluation Report 2020–2022 (Eurostat data, 2015 to 2022). 2024 uses the revised figures published in 2025.

Most of the fall in the broader measure came before 2019. Since then progress has been smaller and uneven, and the change from 2024 to 2025 was modest.

The role of pensions and transfers

The NSO puts the at-risk-of-poverty rate at 16.9% after social transfers, and at 32.3% if all social transfers, pensions included, are taken out. This is an accounting comparison, not a prediction of how households would fare without support, and it does not isolate the effect of energy subsidies.

Evaluation

The claim is accurate: thousands of people still struggle to afford some things despite subsidies and pensions. What it leaves out is the direction of travel. On the official measure, deprivation has fallen from 16.0% to 8.7% since 2015, and severe deprivation has halved. That is why the claim is rated True but lacks context.

Editorial note

How we assessed this claim

We tested the claim against the NSO's EU-SILC 2025 release, earlier NSO results, and a Ministry evaluation that reproduces Eurostat data for 2015 to 2022. We kept individual affordability indicators separate from the official composite measure of deprivation, and looked at how both have changed over time.

True but lacks context, because the claim is accurate as a statement that thousands still face difficulties despite support, but it leaves out that deprivation has fallen substantially since 2015.

Limitations

Deprivation figures refer to 2025 and income figures to 2024, so they cannot assess measures announced for 2027.
Results are survey estimates covering private households. The NSO considers the headline deprivation rates comparable with earlier years after its review of weighting changes; population counts and some secondary indicators have a break from 2023.
The survey does not show the separate effect of each subsidy or pension increase.