 |
The 12th August marks this year’s International Youth Day celebrated for the sixth consecutive year by the United Nations (UN).
This day aims to engender awareness of the World Programme of Action for Youth which promotes priority areas namely: education, employment, hunger and poverty, health, environment, drug abuse, juvenile delinquency, leisure-time activities, girls and young women, and full and effective participation of youth in the life of society and in decision-making.
The National Statistics Office issued a release on special observances as a contribution to mark this international event. Data collected by the Office and from a number of other sources are presented to illustrate trends associated with youths and their life. The term youths refers to persons in the 15 to 24 age bracket.
Demographic developments & vital statistics
Births to mothers aged between 20 to 24 years decreased from 1,100 to 661 between 1997 and 2005 whilst births to fathers in the same age bracket fell by 227 to 246. As a result births to mothers aged between 20 and 24 decreased from 22.3 per cent to 17.1 per cent of total births whilst fathers within the same age bracket decreased from 9.7 per cent to 6.4 per cent of total births.
The average total deaths per year of persons aged 15 to 24 years between 1997 and 2005 was 25 of which 72.0 per cent were males. In 2005 there were 21 deaths of persons aged between 15 to 24 of which 38.1 per cent were caused by transport accidents. Nearly 88.0 per cent of the registered deaths among youths due to transport accidents during 2004 occurred to males.
Education
Between 2004 and 2005 the number of students aged between 16 to 24 years enrolled in post compulsory education was 17,970 of which 50.9 per cent were females. Mostly, that is 36.2 per cent, were full-time University students, followed by MCAST full-time students, amounting to almost 20.0 per cent of the total.
Youths in the Labour market
Between the years 2001 and 2005, according to the Labour Force Survey, there was a decrease of 10.8 per cent of employed persons aged between 15 to 24. At the same time, the youth unemployment rate rose by almost 3 percentage points to 16.8 per cent. The number of inactive youths rose by almost 5,000, in part reflecting increased participation in education.
Annual unemployment rate figures from the Labour Force Survey illustrate an increase in unemployment by 2.7 percentage points among persons aged 15-24. Unemployed females within this age bracket increased by 27.0 per cent whilst the unemployed males decreased by 4.8 per cent between same years under review. Inactive persons increased by 17.7 per cent from 2001 till 2005, mainly due to the increase of students who decided to continue with post secondary education.
According to the Annual Labour Force Survey between 2001 and 2005 the total unemployment rate (15+) increased by 0.9 per cent whilst that of persons aged between 15 to 24 years increased by 2.7 per cent. However in 2005 whilst the total unemployment rate was 7.3 per cent, the unemployment rate registered amongst persons aged between 15 to 24 years was 16.8 per cent. However the unemployment rate amongst females within this age bracket increased by 4.9 per cent between the years 2001 and 2005.
In 2005 there were 6.6 per cent of the total number of foreigners holding a work permit in Malta fell under the 18 to 24 years age bracket. Out of these, 33.2 per cent were aged 24 years. Nearly 53.0 per cent of these work permit holders were males.
Between 2002 and 2005 an average of 81.0 per cent of the accidents at work involving persons aged between 16 to 24 years occurred to males. Nevertheless, accidents at work involving persons within the same age bracket has decreased by 30.2 per cent as from 2002. Fortunately fatalities caused by accidents at work during 2005 are very marginal. In fact only one of these occurred in 2005.
Traffic accidents
During 2004, 30.3 per cent of the total traffic accidents involved persons aged between 15 and 24 years of which 60.7 per cent were males. Out of these 20.7 per cent suffered from a grievous traffic accident whilst fatalities involved 1 per cent of the persons aged between 15 to 24 years who had a traffic accident.
© Copyright 2006 - MaltaMedia Online Network
Top of Page
|
|
|
Local News
Latest Headlines
|
|
