Citizenship by investment in Malta

A Short Guide to Malta

Malta is the largest of the three major islands that constitute the Maltese archipelago. Malta is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea directly south of Italy and north of Libya. The island has a total area of 246 square kilometres (95 sq mi). The island is made up of many small towns, which together form one larger urban zone with a population of 409,259. The landscape is characterised by low hills with terraced fields. The Maltese economy grew by 6.6 per cent in 2018, securing its position as one of the fastest growing economies in the EU. Malta is a highly industrialised, service-based economy. It is classified as an advanced economy by the International Monetary Fund and is considered a high-income country by the World Bank and an innovation-driven economy by the World Economic Forum. It is a member of the European Union and of the eurozone, having formally adopted the euro on 1 January 2008. The strengths of Malta's economy are its strategic location, being situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea at a crossroads between Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, its fully developed open market economy, multilingual population (88% of Maltese people speak English), productive labour force, relatively low corporate tax and well developed finance and ICT sector. The economy is dependent on foreign trade, manufacturing (especially electronics), tourism and financial services. In 2014, over 1.7 million tourists visited the island. Malta is the 18th-most democratic country in the world according to the Economist Intelligence Unit's Democracy Index.