30.6% of Maltese people aged 16 or over were unable to afford paying for a one week annual holiday away from home in 2018, statistics by Eurostat reveal.
This s higher than the EU average of 28.3%.
For many people in the European Union (EU), summer means holidays and travel. However, it is estimated that 28.3% of the EU population aged 16 or over could not afford a one-week annual holiday away from home in 2018. In 2013 the corresponding proportion was 39.5%.
Indeed there is a downward trend in the EU, meaning that more and more people are able to afford such a holiday as time goes by, and this is no different for people in Malta.
In 2012, 39.7% of EU citizens aged 16 and over were unable to afford such a holiday, while in Malta, this percentage stood at 53.7% back in 2012. This reduction is likely due to a number of factors, including cheaper flights, continued recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, etc.
Among the 28 EU Member States, the countries with the highest proportions of individuals who were unable to pay for such a holiday in 2018 were Romania (58.9%), Croatia (51.3%), Greece (51%) and Cyprus (51.0%).
In contrast, the EU Member States with the lowest percentage of people unable to afford a one week annual holiday in 2018 were Luxembourg (10.9%, 2017 data) and Sweden (9.7%).
