CITY / CITYVerified city comparison
LisbonvsValletta.
Lisbon is stronger on 4 of 8 headline facts; Valletta on 3. Cost of living (single, excl. rent): Lisbon $1,166/mo, Valletta $1,278/mo. Freelancer tax burden: Lisbon 30%, Valletta 24.1%. Climate comfort: Lisbon 10/12 mo, Valletta 8/12 mo.
VerifiedUpdated
14 compared criteria · 30 sources · country-level facts are clearly inherited
pt / mt · SettleMetric
01
The key differences
The key numbers head-to-head — the stronger side is marked. The overall score stays decoration; what matters is which facts fit you.
Headline result
Lisbon leads on 4 of 8
Lisbon
4
Valletta
3
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Lisbonstronger
$1,166/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- INE 2022/2023 single-person (<65) household average spending €18,121/year = €1,510/month (incl. housing); CPI-uplifted to mid-2026 (×≈1.072 over 2024–2026 HICP) → €1,618/month; the rent/imputed-rent portion of the COICOP-2018 housing division (41.7% of the basket) removed while keeping utilities, then summed by category and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR (ECB 2026-07-02) → ≈ $1,166/month excluding rent. Cross-checked against Eurostat comparative price level for household consumption (Portugal 2024 = 85.0, EU27=100 — ~15% below the EU average).
- Notes
- National average; Lisbon runs higher. Derived by summing the itemized cost-breakdown categories; see cost-breakdown for the split.
Valletta
$1,278/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
- Notes
- Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
02Freelancer tax burden
Lisbon
30%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Autoridade Tributária + Segurança Social)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pt-ifici-20 (IFICI 20% flat, NHR successor) at €60,000 revenue: social security 21.4%×70%×60,000 = €8,988; category-B simplified taxable income 0.75×60,000 = €45,000; IFICI IRS 20%×45,000 = €9,000; total €17,988 → 29.98% ≈ 30.0%. IFICI requires being a new resident (not resident in Portugal in the prior 5 years) in an eligible activity (IT/ICT qualifies) — realistic for an incoming remote worker. Without IFICI the same profile under the simplified 0.75 regime (progressive IRS) is ~34.4%.
Vallettastronger
24.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Scheme mt-self-employed-standard at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000): Class 2 social security at its 2026 cap, €83.89 × 52 = €4,362.28; income tax at the single rates, 54,000 × 25% − 3,400 = €10,100. Levies €14,462.28 → 24.1%. The standard regime is the one open to every resident, EU citizens included, and without a time limit.
- Notes
- A non-EU remote worker on the Nomad Residence Permit pays 10% on the same profit after the first twelve months — €5,400, or 9.0% — and nothing in the first twelve (scheme mt-nomad-residence-permit), but only while the permit lasts, four years at most, and only on work for clients or employers outside Malta.
03Homicide rate
Lisbonstronger
0.68/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (Eurostat crim_off_cat). Portugal has trended down since 2013 (1.37) to 0.68 in 2024 — among the lowest in the EU.
Valletta
0.89/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS0101, per 100k)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- 2024: 5 homicides, 0.89 per 100,000 (Eurostat, updated 2026-04-29). With about 570,000 residents each case moves the rate by about 0.18, so the series swings: 2019 0.81, 2020 1.17, 2021 0.39, 2022 1.54, 2023 0.37.
04Climate comfort
Lisbonstronger
10/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (IPMA Lisboa/Instituto Geofísico 1991-2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Jan (15.1°C, 103.8mm), Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov (18.1°C, 133.9mm), Dec = 10. Only Jul (TX 28.2°C) and Aug (TX 28.8°C) miss, exceeding the 28°C max cap; no month exceeds the 150mm precipitation cap.
Valletta
8/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (NOAA GSOD 1991–2020, Luqa)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Months whose mean daily maximum is between 15 and 28 °C and whose precipitation is under 150 mm: January (15.7 °C), February (15.7 °C), March (17.4 °C), April (20.0 °C), May (24.2 °C), October (25.1 °C), November (20.9 °C), December (17.2 °C) = 8. June (28.7), July (31.7), August (32.0) and September (28.6) exceed 28 °C; no month reaches 150 mm.
- Notes
- The count rewards mild winters: January and February qualify with daily maxima just above 15 °C, and nights stay above 9 °C all year.
05Internet speed
Lisbon
40 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Portugal
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- M-Lab NDT daily country medians for Portugal cluster at ≈ 39–42 Mbps (2024). Recorded as 40 Mbps. WebFetch truncates the JSON to ~mid-January, so the full-year median should be re-aggregated from the M-Lab BigQuery dataset next cycle.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Portuguese fibre retail speeds are far higher) — comparable only within this criterion. Value should be re-verified against the full 2024/2025 M-Lab aggregate.
Vallettastronger
85 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Malta
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for MT in 2023 (14,854 download tests; daily medians ranged 34.0-287.3 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.
06English proficiency
Lisbon
Very high
EF EPI 2025 — Portugal rank 6/123, score 612 (Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First). Portugal ranks 6th of 123 countries (score 612, 'Very High'). English is broadly workable in cities, tourism, tech and services; less consistent in local government/administration.
Vallettastronger
Native
Constitution of Malta, article 5 — Maltese and English are the official languages
Official source
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Maltese is the national language, but Maltese and English are both official languages: the administration may use either, and anyone may address it in English and must be answered in English. The courts are the exception: their language is Maltese, and Parliament may provide for the use of English in particular cases.
07Private healthcare cost
Lisbon
$650/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover (outpatient + hospitalization) for a healthy 35-year-old run ≈ €35–60/month across the main Portuguese insurers (Médis, Multicare, AdvanceCare/AdvanceCare-network, Allianz, Generali Tranquilidade). Midpoint ≈ €47.5/month ≈ €570/year ≈ $650 at 1.1399 USD/EUR (range ≈ $547–$752). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by the public SNS; private insurance is optional/supplementary. Cheaper outpatient-only plans start ≈ €10–20/month but exclude hospitalization — this figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen for cross-country comparability. Insurers repriced ~+10% for 2026.
Valletta
no verified data
08Air quality (PM2.5)
Lisbonstronger
7.6 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Lisboa Greater City/PRT, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 7.604 µg/m³ at 84% temporal coverage over 17 stations (eleven urban background, four urban traffic, one urban industrial and one suburban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 1,872,036. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 2.6 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Two caveats. Coverage is 84%, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, so the year is not quality-assured to the standard the other Portuguese figure here meets — but 2023, at 96% coverage, reads 7.26 µg/m³, within 0.35 of this value, so the sub-threshold year is not distorting anything. And the row is the Urban Audit "greater city": WHO gives its population as 1,872,036 against the 658,236 municipal figure recorded on this page, so it covers Greater Lisbon across 17 stations, not the municipality alone. Preceding years in the same series: 2021 8.50 (89%), 2022 7.36 (95%), 2023 7.26 (96%).
Valletta
10.5 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station MT00011, Msida, 10.497 µg/m³ on 97.26% data coverage, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-10. It is the only station the EEA assigns to the city of Valletta, about 1.8 km west of the city's centre point. Earlier years at Msida: 11.594 µg/m³ in 2024 (MT00011) and 13.857 in 2023 (MT00005).
- Notes
- A TRAFFIC station, so it reads higher than the city's background level. Malta's urban background stations recorded 8.94 µg/m³ (Żejtun) and 9.21 (Attard) in 2025, and the rural Għarb station on Gozo 7.53. All are above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³; Msida sits at the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030.
02
Which city fits your plan?
Each lens weighs only the facts that matter to that plan, and names the side it favours.
Remote IT / freelancer
Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.
Valletta fits better — 3 of 5
01Freelancer tax burden
Lisbon
30%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Autoridade Tributária + Segurança Social)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pt-ifici-20 (IFICI 20% flat, NHR successor) at €60,000 revenue: social security 21.4%×70%×60,000 = €8,988; category-B simplified taxable income 0.75×60,000 = €45,000; IFICI IRS 20%×45,000 = €9,000; total €17,988 → 29.98% ≈ 30.0%. IFICI requires being a new resident (not resident in Portugal in the prior 5 years) in an eligible activity (IT/ICT qualifies) — realistic for an incoming remote worker. Without IFICI the same profile under the simplified 0.75 regime (progressive IRS) is ~34.4%.
Vallettastronger
24.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Scheme mt-self-employed-standard at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000): Class 2 social security at its 2026 cap, €83.89 × 52 = €4,362.28; income tax at the single rates, 54,000 × 25% − 3,400 = €10,100. Levies €14,462.28 → 24.1%. The standard regime is the one open to every resident, EU citizens included, and without a time limit.
- Notes
- A non-EU remote worker on the Nomad Residence Permit pays 10% on the same profit after the first twelve months — €5,400, or 9.0% — and nothing in the first twelve (scheme mt-nomad-residence-permit), but only while the permit lasts, four years at most, and only on work for clients or employers outside Malta.
02Internet speed
Lisbon
40 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Portugal
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- M-Lab NDT daily country medians for Portugal cluster at ≈ 39–42 Mbps (2024). Recorded as 40 Mbps. WebFetch truncates the JSON to ~mid-January, so the full-year median should be re-aggregated from the M-Lab BigQuery dataset next cycle.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Portuguese fibre retail speeds are far higher) — comparable only within this criterion. Value should be re-verified against the full 2024/2025 M-Lab aggregate.
Vallettastronger
85 Mbps
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Malta
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for MT in 2023 (14,854 download tests; daily medians ranged 34.0-287.3 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.
03English proficiency
Lisbon
Very high
EF EPI 2025 — Portugal rank 6/123, score 612 (Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First). Portugal ranks 6th of 123 countries (score 612, 'Very High'). English is broadly workable in cities, tourism, tech and services; less consistent in local government/administration.
Vallettastronger
Native
Constitution of Malta, article 5 — Maltese and English are the official languages
Official source
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Maltese is the national language, but Maltese and English are both official languages: the administration may use either, and anyone may address it in English and must be answered in English. The courts are the exception: their language is Maltese, and Parliament may provide for the use of English in particular cases.
04Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Lisbonstronger
$1,166/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- INE 2022/2023 single-person (<65) household average spending €18,121/year = €1,510/month (incl. housing); CPI-uplifted to mid-2026 (×≈1.072 over 2024–2026 HICP) → €1,618/month; the rent/imputed-rent portion of the COICOP-2018 housing division (41.7% of the basket) removed while keeping utilities, then summed by category and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR (ECB 2026-07-02) → ≈ $1,166/month excluding rent. Cross-checked against Eurostat comparative price level for household consumption (Portugal 2024 = 85.0, EU27=100 — ~15% below the EU average).
- Notes
- National average; Lisbon runs higher. Derived by summing the itemized cost-breakdown categories; see cost-breakdown for the split.
Valletta
$1,278/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
- Notes
- Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
05Domestic delivery quality
Lisbon
Good
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- National operator CTT offers next-day ('Expresso Para Amanhã') and 2-day express nationwide, with the Collectt pickup network (CTT shops + Payshop agents + Locky 24/7 parcel lockers) and real-time tracking. Private carriers DPD, GLS, DHL, UPS, Chronopost and Seur operate nationwide. Rated 'good' — 1–3 day delivery is the norm and lockers exist in cities, but locker density and universal next-day are below the best-in-class (e.g. Poland's InPost).
Valletta
Good
MaltaPost — Easipik parcel lockers and local courier
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Classified from MaltaPost's own pages, read on 2026-10-10: a 24/7 network of Easipik parcel lockers around Malta and Gozo, free for MaltaPost deliveries (€3.50 for other couriers' parcels), lockers in three sizes up to 30 kg; a tracked local courier service to any address in Malta and Gozo, with optional pick-up from lockers or post offices and cash-on-delivery collection. No source for next-day delivery as a standard was found, so the top band is not given → 'good'.
Family
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
Lisbon fits better — 3 of 5
01International schools
Lisbonstronger
11
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Curated count of internationally-accredited schools in the Lisbon metro (Lisboa, Cascais, Sintra, Oeiras). Directly verified against their accreditor networks: Lycée Français Charles Lepierre (AEFE directly-managed establishment, aefe.gouv.fr) and Deutsche Schule Lissabon (German Auslandsschule under ZfA/Auswärtiges Amt, auslandsschulwesen.de). IB World Schools identified in the metro by name from IB 'by country' data and corroborating sources: St. Julian's (Carcavelos), St. Dominic's International (São Domingos de Rana), Carlucci/CAISL (Sintra), United Lisbon International, TASIS Portugal (Sintra), International Sharing School–Taguspark (Oeiras), Oeiras International School, PaRK International, plus The Lisboan (Cambridge + IB). Count = 11 named, accreditor-attributable schools.
- Notes
- ±3 uncertainty. The live IB World Schools finder and the Cambridge 'Find a Cambridge school' registry both returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch this cycle, so individual IB/Cambridge authorizations were confirmed from official-adjacent sources rather than each read directly against the accreditor's live registry; AEFE and the German school were verified directly. Portugal has ~16 IB World Schools in total, most clustered in the Lisbon metro, so the true metro count of all-accreditor international schools is likely somewhat higher than 11 (aggregator guides list 30+ 'international' schools, but many lack a recognised accreditor). Re-verify each authorization against the IB and Cambridge registries from a browser next cycle.
Valletta
2
IB World Schools Yearbook — IB World Schools in Malta, cross-checked against the IB directory
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- The IB World Schools Yearbook lists two IB World Schools in Malta, both teaching in English and authorised for the Diploma Programme, one also for the Middle Years and Career-related Programmes: St Edward's College in Birgu (IB code 004556), across the Grand Harbour from Valletta, and Verdala International School at Fort Pembroke (IB code 000832), which the IB's own page records as an IB World School since May 1995 (read through the Internet Archive; ibo.org answers our requests with 403). The CIS membership directory, queried on 2026-10-10 the way its own map does, returns no school in Malta, and COBIS's 2024 member file, re-read the same day, has no Maltese entry.
- Notes
- Counted for the whole urban area around the harbours rather than the walled city, which has none of its own. A third school, Haileybury Malta, appears in the IB directory's index (ibo.org/school/064905) but its page could not be read, so it is not counted.
02Homicide rate
Lisbonstronger
0.68/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (Eurostat crim_off_cat). Portugal has trended down since 2013 (1.37) to 0.68 in 2024 — among the lowest in the EU.
Valletta
0.89/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS0101, per 100k)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- 2024: 5 homicides, 0.89 per 100,000 (Eurostat, updated 2026-04-29). With about 570,000 residents each case moves the rate by about 0.18, so the series swings: 2019 0.81, 2020 1.17, 2021 0.39, 2022 1.54, 2023 0.37.
03Private healthcare cost
Lisbon
$650/yr
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover (outpatient + hospitalization) for a healthy 35-year-old run ≈ €35–60/month across the main Portuguese insurers (Médis, Multicare, AdvanceCare/AdvanceCare-network, Allianz, Generali Tranquilidade). Midpoint ≈ €47.5/month ≈ €570/year ≈ $650 at 1.1399 USD/EUR (range ≈ $547–$752). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by the public SNS; private insurance is optional/supplementary. Cheaper outpatient-only plans start ≈ €10–20/month but exclude hospitalization — this figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen for cross-country comparability. Insurers repriced ~+10% for 2026.
Valletta
no verified data
04Air quality (PM2.5)
Lisbonstronger
7.6 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Lisboa Greater City/PRT, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 7.604 µg/m³ at 84% temporal coverage over 17 stations (eleven urban background, four urban traffic, one urban industrial and one suburban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 1,872,036. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 2.6 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Two caveats. Coverage is 84%, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, so the year is not quality-assured to the standard the other Portuguese figure here meets — but 2023, at 96% coverage, reads 7.26 µg/m³, within 0.35 of this value, so the sub-threshold year is not distorting anything. And the row is the Urban Audit "greater city": WHO gives its population as 1,872,036 against the 658,236 municipal figure recorded on this page, so it covers Greater Lisbon across 17 stations, not the municipality alone. Preceding years in the same series: 2021 8.50 (89%), 2022 7.36 (95%), 2023 7.26 (96%).
Valletta
10.5 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station MT00011, Msida, 10.497 µg/m³ on 97.26% data coverage, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-10. It is the only station the EEA assigns to the city of Valletta, about 1.8 km west of the city's centre point. Earlier years at Msida: 11.594 µg/m³ in 2024 (MT00011) and 13.857 in 2023 (MT00005).
- Notes
- A TRAFFIC station, so it reads higher than the city's background level. Malta's urban background stations recorded 8.94 µg/m³ (Żejtun) and 9.21 (Attard) in 2025, and the rural Għarb station on Gozo 7.53. All are above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³; Msida sits at the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030.
05English proficiency
Lisbon
Very high
EF EPI 2025 — Portugal rank 6/123, score 612 (Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First). Portugal ranks 6th of 123 countries (score 612, 'Very High'). English is broadly workable in cities, tourism, tech and services; less consistent in local government/administration.
Vallettastronger
Native
Constitution of Malta, article 5 — Maltese and English are the official languages
Official source
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Maltese is the national language, but Maltese and English are both official languages: the administration may use either, and anyone may address it in English and must be answered in English. The courts are the exception: their language is Maltese, and Parliament may provide for the use of English in particular cases.
Money & crypto
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
A close call for this plan
01Crypto regulation
Lisbonstronger
Legal friendly
Autoridade Tributária — Criptoativos: conceito fiscal e tributação (folheto informativo)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Legal for individuals; regulated under EU MiCA/CARF. Since Law 24-D/2022: capital gains on crypto held ≥365 days are tax-EXEMPT (declared in Anexo G1); gains on assets held <365 days are taxed at a 28% autonomous rate (Category G, option to aggregate); crypto-to-crypto swaps are deferred (not taxed at the swap). Frequent/professional trading may be reclassified as Category B (general rates). Classified legal-friendly for the explicit long-term-holding exemption; short-term gains are still fully taxed.
Valletta
Legal regulated
Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (Cap. 647) — Act XXXVI of 2024, as amended by Act XI of 2025
Official source
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and licensed under the EU's MiCA regulation. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Act sets the national rules MiCA leaves to member states and names the Malta Financial Services Authority as competent authority for crypto-asset service providers and token issuers; it also provided for the repeal of the earlier Virtual Financial Assets Act. Nothing restricts individuals holding or trading crypto-assets.
02Financial control level
Lisbon
Low
ASAE — cash-payment limits (Art. 63.º-E Lei Geral Tributária); euro-area free movement of capital
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Composite: euro-area member, no currency or capital controls, EUR fully convertible; free movement of capital guaranteed by the EU Treaty (Art. 63 TFEU). Non-resident bank accounts routinely available. Standard EU CRS/DAC reporting via banks; no FBAR-style personal foreign-account self-declaration for individuals. Cash-payment limit €2,999.99 for residents (natural persons) and €9,999.99 for non-residents not acting as merchants (Art. 63.º-E LGT) — a limit on cash, not on bank money movement. Rated 'low' state control over personal money flows.
Valletta
Low
Composite — euro-area free movement of capital + S.L. 373.04 Use of Cash (Restriction) Regulations
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 9, 2021
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Malta is a euro-area member of the EU, so capital moves freely under EU law and no currency or capital controls apply. The one restriction on personal money flows found is the Use of Cash (Restriction) Regulations (Legal Notice 81 of 2021): no cash payment of €10,000 or more, in one transaction or several linked ones within six months, for the purchase or sale of antiques, immovable property, jewellery and precious metals and stones, motor vehicles, sea-craft and works of art, on pain of a fine of at least 40% of the excess. There is no general cash ceiling on other payments. Classified 'low'.
03Freelancer tax burden
Lisbon
30%
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Autoridade Tributária + Segurança Social)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pt-ifici-20 (IFICI 20% flat, NHR successor) at €60,000 revenue: social security 21.4%×70%×60,000 = €8,988; category-B simplified taxable income 0.75×60,000 = €45,000; IFICI IRS 20%×45,000 = €9,000; total €17,988 → 29.98% ≈ 30.0%. IFICI requires being a new resident (not resident in Portugal in the prior 5 years) in an eligible activity (IT/ICT qualifies) — realistic for an incoming remote worker. Without IFICI the same profile under the simplified 0.75 regime (progressive IRS) is ~34.4%.
Vallettastronger
24.1%
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Scheme mt-self-employed-standard at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000): Class 2 social security at its 2026 cap, €83.89 × 52 = €4,362.28; income tax at the single rates, 54,000 × 25% − 3,400 = €10,100. Levies €14,462.28 → 24.1%. The standard regime is the one open to every resident, EU citizens included, and without a time limit.
- Notes
- A non-EU remote worker on the Nomad Residence Permit pays 10% on the same profit after the first twelve months — €5,400, or 9.0% — and nothing in the first twelve (scheme mt-nomad-residence-permit), but only while the permit lasts, four years at most, and only on work for clients or employers outside Malta.
Calm lifestyle
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
Lisbon fits better — 4 of 4
01Homicide rate
Lisbonstronger
0.68/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (Eurostat crim_off_cat). Portugal has trended down since 2013 (1.37) to 0.68 in 2024 — among the lowest in the EU.
Valletta
0.89/100k
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS0101, per 100k)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- 2024: 5 homicides, 0.89 per 100,000 (Eurostat, updated 2026-04-29). With about 570,000 residents each case moves the rate by about 0.18, so the series swings: 2019 0.81, 2020 1.17, 2021 0.39, 2022 1.54, 2023 0.37.
02Air quality (PM2.5)
Lisbonstronger
7.6 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Lisboa Greater City/PRT, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 7.604 µg/m³ at 84% temporal coverage over 17 stations (eleven urban background, four urban traffic, one urban industrial and one suburban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 1,872,036. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 2.6 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Two caveats. Coverage is 84%, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, so the year is not quality-assured to the standard the other Portuguese figure here meets — but 2023, at 96% coverage, reads 7.26 µg/m³, within 0.35 of this value, so the sub-threshold year is not distorting anything. And the row is the Urban Audit "greater city": WHO gives its population as 1,872,036 against the 658,236 municipal figure recorded on this page, so it covers Greater Lisbon across 17 stations, not the municipality alone. Preceding years in the same series: 2021 8.50 (89%), 2022 7.36 (95%), 2023 7.26 (96%).
Valletta
10.5 µg/m³
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station MT00011, Msida, 10.497 µg/m³ on 97.26% data coverage, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-10. It is the only station the EEA assigns to the city of Valletta, about 1.8 km west of the city's centre point. Earlier years at Msida: 11.594 µg/m³ in 2024 (MT00011) and 13.857 in 2023 (MT00005).
- Notes
- A TRAFFIC station, so it reads higher than the city's background level. Malta's urban background stations recorded 8.94 µg/m³ (Żejtun) and 9.21 (Attard) in 2025, and the rural Għarb station on Gozo 7.53. All are above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³; Msida sits at the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030.
03Cost of living (single, excl. rent)
Lisbonstronger
$1,166/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- INE 2022/2023 single-person (<65) household average spending €18,121/year = €1,510/month (incl. housing); CPI-uplifted to mid-2026 (×≈1.072 over 2024–2026 HICP) → €1,618/month; the rent/imputed-rent portion of the COICOP-2018 housing division (41.7% of the basket) removed while keeping utilities, then summed by category and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR (ECB 2026-07-02) → ≈ $1,166/month excluding rent. Cross-checked against Eurostat comparative price level for household consumption (Portugal 2024 = 85.0, EU27=100 — ~15% below the EU average).
- Notes
- National average; Lisbon runs higher. Derived by summing the itemized cost-breakdown categories; see cost-breakdown for the split.
Valletta
$1,278/mo
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
- Notes
- Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
04Climate comfort
Lisbonstronger
10/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (IPMA Lisboa/Instituto Geofísico 1991-2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Jan (15.1°C, 103.8mm), Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov (18.1°C, 133.9mm), Dec = 10. Only Jul (TX 28.2°C) and Aug (TX 28.8°C) miss, exceeding the 28°C max cap; no month exceeds the 150mm precipitation cap.
Valletta
8/12 mo
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (NOAA GSOD 1991–2020, Luqa)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Months whose mean daily maximum is between 15 and 28 °C and whose precipitation is under 150 mm: January (15.7 °C), February (15.7 °C), March (17.4 °C), April (20.0 °C), May (24.2 °C), October (25.1 °C), November (20.9 °C), December (17.2 °C) = 8. June (28.7), July (31.7), August (32.0) and September (28.6) exceed 28 °C; no month reaches 150 mm.
- Notes
- The count rewards mild winters: January and February qualify with daily maxima just above 15 °C, and nights stay above 9 °C all year.
03
The full comparison
Open any fact to see what it measures, how fresh it is and the complete source trail for both cities.
01
Taxes
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Freelancer tax burden% effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profileLisbon30Vallettastronger24.1
What this measures
Effective total burden (income tax + mandatory social and health contributions) for a solo IT freelancer with €60,000/year revenue and 10% deductible expenses, using the most favourable eligible scheme in the country's tax-schemes data. Computed by the SettleMetric tax engine; recorded as a curated value with the winning scheme id in method.
Lower is better· % effective burden at €60k/year self-employed profile· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
SettleMetric tax engine over official 2026 rules (Autoridade Tributária + Segurança Social)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Best eligible scheme pt-ifici-20 (IFICI 20% flat, NHR successor) at €60,000 revenue: social security 21.4%×70%×60,000 = €8,988; category-B simplified taxable income 0.75×60,000 = €45,000; IFICI IRS 20%×45,000 = €9,000; total €17,988 → 29.98% ≈ 30.0%. IFICI requires being a new resident (not resident in Portugal in the prior 5 years) in an eligible activity (IT/ICT qualifies) — realistic for an incoming remote worker. Without IFICI the same profile under the simplified 0.75 regime (progressive IRS) is ~34.4%.
Valletta
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Scheme mt-self-employed-standard at €60,000 revenue with 10% deductible expenses (net profit €54,000): Class 2 social security at its 2026 cap, €83.89 × 52 = €4,362.28; income tax at the single rates, 54,000 × 25% − 3,400 = €10,100. Levies €14,462.28 → 24.1%. The standard regime is the one open to every resident, EU citizens included, and without a time limit.
- Notes
- A non-EU remote worker on the Nomad Residence Permit pays 10% on the same profit after the first twelve months — €5,400, or 9.0% — and nothing in the first twelve (scheme mt-nomad-residence-permit), but only while the permit lasts, four years at most, and only on work for clients or employers outside Malta.
02
Legalization
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Remote-work legalization easeLisbonDedicated nomad visaVallettaDedicated nomad visa
What this measures
Best available legalization route for a location-independent earner with a median (non-EU, non-US) passport, classified from this country's legalization-paths data: dedicated digital-nomad visa; general freelance/self-employment permit; realistic long-stay path (e.g. renewable temporary residence); only short visa-free/tourist stays; effectively none.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Lisbon
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Portugal has a dedicated digital-nomad route (D8): a residence visa for remote professional activity carried out for entities outside Portugal (in force since 2022, Law 18/2022), leading to a 2-year residence permit renewable for 3 years and to permanent residence/citizenship after 5 years. A temporary-stay variant (under 1 year) also exists. Income requirement 4× the national minimum wage (4 × €920 = €3,680/month in 2026).
Valletta
Residency Malta Agency — Nomad Residence Permit
Official source
- Data as of
- Apr 17, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Malta's Nomad Residence Permit is a dedicated permit for third-country nationals who work remotely for foreign employers or clients, with a €42,000 gross income threshold; it lasts a year, can be renewed three times and does not lead to long-term residence (see mt-nomad-residence-permit).
03
Cost of living
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Cost of living (single, excl. rent)USD/month, single person, excluding rentLisbonstronger1,166Valletta1,278
What this measures
Monthly cost of a defined single-person basket (food, transport, utilities, mobile+internet, modest leisure) excluding rent, curated from national statistics office price data and large local retailers' published prices, converted to USD at the ECB rate recorded in fx-rates. The method field of each value itemizes the basket inputs.
Lower is better· USD/month, single person, excluding rent· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- INE 2022/2023 single-person (<65) household average spending €18,121/year = €1,510/month (incl. housing); CPI-uplifted to mid-2026 (×≈1.072 over 2024–2026 HICP) → €1,618/month; the rent/imputed-rent portion of the COICOP-2018 housing division (41.7% of the basket) removed while keeping utilities, then summed by category and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR (ECB 2026-07-02) → ≈ $1,166/month excluding rent. Cross-checked against Eurostat comparative price level for household consumption (Portugal 2024 = 85.0, EU27=100 — ~15% below the EU average).
- Notes
- National average; Lisbon runs higher. Derived by summing the itemized cost-breakdown categories; see cost-breakdown for the split.
Valletta
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- One-adult households spent PPS 13,633 a year in Malta's 2020 Household Budget Survey; at the survey's own euro-to-PPS ratio (€23,770 against PPS 26,528 for the average household) that is €12,216. Uplifted by Malta's HICP from the 2020 to the 2025 annual average (106.37 → 125.90, ×1.1836) and divided by 12: €1,205 a month, × 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09) = $1,350. Actual rentals, 5.4% of a single adult's spending in the survey, are removed (imputed rent is not part of Malta's HBS), and the remaining COICOP divisions are summed from cost-breakdown.
- Notes
- Malta's latest Household Budget Survey is the 2020 wave, so the basket reflects a pandemic year, when spending on restaurants, travel and recreation was depressed; the inflation uplift corrects prices, not that pattern, so the figure is more likely low than high. A one-adult household in the survey includes pensioners as well as working people.
Monthly spending by category (excl. rent)
Lisbon
Valletta
INE — Household Budget Survey 2022/2023 (COICOP-2018 structure), CPI-uplifted
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- INE 2022/2023 COICOP-2018 expenditure shares (food 13.0%, transport 11.3%, restaurants & accommodation 8.3%, furnishings 4.4%, health 4.2%, information & communication 3.8%, personal care/misc 3.4%, recreation 2.9%, alcohol/tobacco 1.7%, clothing 1.2%; housing 41.7% split into ~9% utilities/upkeep kept and rent excluded) applied to the CPI-uplifted single-person monthly total (€1,618) and converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR. Categories sum to the ~$1,166/mo excl-rent aggregate. National average.
- Notes
- Structure is the all-household COICOP-2018 split (INE does not publish a full single-person COICOP table); applied to the single-person total as a transparent approximation. Housing utilities are kept; rent/imputed rent is excluded per the cost-of-living definition.
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Each COICOP division's share of one-adult households' spending (per mille: food 215, transport 109, restaurants and hotels 91, miscellaneous 91, furnishings 78, health 68, clothing 63, recreation 61, communication 48, energy 36, dwelling maintenance 33, alcohol and tobacco 33, water and other dwelling services 16, education 4) applied to the CPI-uplifted monthly total including rent, $1,350. Actual rentals (54 per mille) are left out; the items sum to $1,278, the cost-of-living-single figure.
01Food & non-alcoholic beverages
Lisboncheaper
$240
Valletta
$290
02Transport
Lisbon
$208
Vallettacheaper
$147
03Health (out-of-pocket)
Lisboncheaper
$77
Valletta
$92
04Utilities (electricity, gas, water) & upkeep
Lisbon
$166
Valletta
—
05Restaurants & eating out
Lisbon
$153
Valletta
—
06Restaurants & hotels
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$123
07Other goods & services (incl. personal care)
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$123
08Clothing & footwear
Lisboncheaper
$22
Valletta
$85
09Furnishings & household equipment
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$105
10Recreation & culture
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$82
11Household goods & equipment
Lisbon
$81
Valletta
—
12Information & communication
Lisbon
$70
Valletta
—
13Communication
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$65
14Personal care & misc goods
Lisbon
$63
Valletta
—
15Recreation, sport & culture
Lisbon
$53
Valletta
—
16Housing energy (electricity, gas, fuels)
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$49
17Housing maintenance & repair
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$45
18Alcoholic beverages & tobacco
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$45
19Alcohol & tobacco
Lisbon
$31
Valletta
—
20Housing operating costs (water, waste, common charges)
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$22
21Education
Lisbon
—
Valletta
$5
Total (excl. rent)
Lisbon$1,164/mo
Valletta$1,278/mo
04
Housing
Rent by apartment type
Asking rent, central price with outside-centre in parentheses ($/mo).
Lisbon
Valletta
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- May 31, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Base: idealista Lisboa city-wide asking rent €21.8/m² (May 2026). Applied typical dwelling sizes (studio 35 m², 1BR 55 m², 2BR 80 m², 3BR 110 m²) and a central/outside multiplier (central historic/central parishes ×1.15, outer parishes ×0.85), converted at 1.1399 USD/EUR (ECB 2026-07-02). E.g. 1BR center = 55×21.8×1.15×1.1399 ≈ $1,572.
- Notes
- ALL cells are DERIVED — idealista's public report gives only a single city-wide €/m² for Lisboa, not a room-count × district matrix (idealista's granular per-district report pages returned HTTP 403 on fetch). Both the dwelling sizes and the ±15% central/outside spread are transparent assumptions, not observed values; treat the matrix as indicative and re-derive from a directly fetched idealista Lisboa district report next cycle. Only the city-wide €21.8/m² base is directly observed.
Official source
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Median monthly rent of apartments (flats) in contracts registered with the Housing Authority in the first half of 2026, Southern Harbour region, from the Rent Registry's own workbook (data last updated 6 July 2026), read on 2026-10-10: 1 bedroom €850, 2 bedrooms €1,000, 3 bedrooms €1,150 (averages €952, €968 and €1,145), converted at 1.1206 USD/EUR (ECB, 2026-10-09). The region is the NSO district of the same name: Valletta, Floriana, Birgu, Isla, Bormla, Kalkara, Marsa, Paola, Fgura, Tarxien, Santa Luċija, Żabbar, Xgħajra and Luqa.
- Notes
- Centre cells empty: every lease in Malta must be registered with the Housing Authority, but its calculator returns 'Scarce Data' for one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments in Il-Belt Valletta in the first half of 2026, its workbook omits the locality, and its 2024 report leaves Valletta out of the locality charts, which only show localities with at least 20 new contracts. Malta's rent-1br-center is therefore a country-level figure for the harbour conurbation, shown on the country's cost-of-living page. No studio row: the registry groups apartments by one, two and three bedrooms. The outside row is Valletta's own district and so includes the city, but Valletta's few leases barely weigh in it. Rents actually registered, not asking prices. The Northern Harbour region across Marsamxett Harbour — Sliema, St Julian's, Gżira, Msida — is dearer: €1,050, €1,300 and €1,500; one-bedroom medians are €1,000 in Msida and Tal-Pietà and €1,100 in Gżira.
01Studio
Lisbon
$1,000$739 outside
Valletta
—
021-bedroom
Lisbon
$1,572$1,162 outside
Valletta
—
032-bedroom
Lisbon
$2,286$1,690 outside
Valletta
—
043-bedroom
Lisbon
$3,144$2,323 outside
Valletta
—
05
Safety
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Homicide rateintentional homicides per 100,000/yearLisbonstronger0.7Valletta0.9
What this measures
Intentional homicide victims per 100,000 population, latest available year. Country level: UNODC national series. City level: official municipal/police statistics where published; otherwise null (country value shown as country-level).
Lower is better· intentional homicides per 100,000/year· re-verified every 730 days
Lisbon
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS 0101)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded intentional homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (Eurostat crim_off_cat). Portugal has trended down since 2013 (1.37) to 0.68 in 2024 — among the lowest in the EU.
Valletta
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS0101, per 100k)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- 2024: 5 homicides, 0.89 per 100,000 (Eurostat, updated 2026-04-29). With about 570,000 residents each case moves the rate by about 0.18, so the series swings: 2019 0.81, 2020 1.17, 2021 0.39, 2022 1.54, 2023 0.37.
06
Climate
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Climate comfortpleasant months/yearLisbonstronger10Valletta8
What this measures
Number of months whose 1991–2020 climate normals satisfy: mean daily maximum between 15°C and 28°C and monthly precipitation under 150mm. Computed from the city's climate-normals indicator; the raw normals are stored alongside so users can judge by their own taste.
Higher is better· pleasant months/year· re-verified every 3650 days
Lisbon
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (IPMA Lisboa/Instituto Geofísico 1991-2020)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Months with mean daily max 15–28°C and precipitation < 150mm: Jan (15.1°C, 103.8mm), Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Sep, Oct, Nov (18.1°C, 133.9mm), Dec = 10. Only Jul (TX 28.2°C) and Aug (TX 28.8°C) miss, exceeding the 28°C max cap; no month exceeds the 150mm precipitation cap.
Valletta
SettleMetric computation over climate-normals (NOAA GSOD 1991–2020, Luqa)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2020
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Months whose mean daily maximum is between 15 and 28 °C and whose precipitation is under 150 mm: January (15.7 °C), February (15.7 °C), March (17.4 °C), April (20.0 °C), May (24.2 °C), October (25.1 °C), November (20.9 °C), December (17.2 °C) = 8. June (28.7), July (31.7), August (32.0) and September (28.6) exceed 28 °C; no month reaches 150 mm.
- Notes
- The count rewards mild winters: January and February qualify with daily maxima just above 15 °C, and nights stay above 9 °C all year.
02+−Air quality (PM2.5)µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5Lisbonstronger7.6Valletta10.5
What this measures
Annual mean fine-particulate (PM2.5) concentration for the city, latest available year. Anchors follow the WHO 2021 guideline (5 µg/m³ → 10) through the EU limit value territory (25 µg/m³ → 2). Preferred source: European Environment Agency city-level air quality data; outside Europe: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database or the national monitoring network.
Lower is better· µg/m³, annual mean PM2.5· re-verified every 730 days
Lisbon
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Aug 28, 2026
- Method
- Row Lisboa Greater City/PRT, year 2024, of the WHO Ambient Air Quality Database v8.0 (2026), read from the published spreadsheet on 2026-08-28: pm25_concentration = 7.604 µg/m³ at 84% temporal coverage over 17 stations (eleven urban background, four urban traffic, one urban industrial and one suburban industrial), reference "European Environmental Agency", WHO footprint population 1,872,036. Reference year 2024 — the latest year this database carries a full-year PM2.5 figure for this city, and the year already used by the other European cities in this dataset. Identity checked against the row's own station centroid, which lies 2.6 km from this city's recorded coordinates — the file contains near-miss names such as "Playa Del Ingles/ESP" and "Porto Empedocle/ITA", so the check is not a formality.
- Notes
- Two caveats. Coverage is 84%, below the EU's 90% data-quality objective, so the year is not quality-assured to the standard the other Portuguese figure here meets — but 2023, at 96% coverage, reads 7.26 µg/m³, within 0.35 of this value, so the sub-threshold year is not distorting anything. And the row is the Urban Audit "greater city": WHO gives its population as 1,872,036 against the 658,236 municipal figure recorded on this page, so it covers Greater Lisbon across 17 stations, not the municipality alone. Preceding years in the same series: 2021 8.50 (89%), 2022 7.36 (95%), 2023 7.26 (96%).
Valletta
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Validated (E1a, verification flag 1) 2025 annual mean at station MT00011, Msida, 10.497 µg/m³ on 97.26% data coverage, queried from the EEA statistics service on 2026-10-10. It is the only station the EEA assigns to the city of Valletta, about 1.8 km west of the city's centre point. Earlier years at Msida: 11.594 µg/m³ in 2024 (MT00011) and 13.857 in 2023 (MT00005).
- Notes
- A TRAFFIC station, so it reads higher than the city's background level. Malta's urban background stations recorded 8.94 µg/m³ (Żejtun) and 9.21 (Attard) in 2025, and the rural Għarb station on Gozo 7.53. All are above the WHO 2021 guideline of 5 µg/m³; Msida sits at the EU limit of 10 µg/m³ that applies from 2030.
07
Healthcare
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Private healthcare costUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldLisbon650Vallettano verified data
What this measures
Median of at least three publicly quoted annual premiums for comprehensive private medical insurance (outpatient + inpatient, ~$100k coverage, small deductible) for a healthy 35-year-old resident foreigner, from local and international insurers. Method field lists the insurers quoted.
Lower is better· USD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-old· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Comprehensive private plans that include inpatient/hospital cover (outpatient + hospitalization) for a healthy 35-year-old run ≈ €35–60/month across the main Portuguese insurers (Médis, Multicare, AdvanceCare/AdvanceCare-network, Allianz, Generali Tranquilidade). Midpoint ≈ €47.5/month ≈ €570/year ≈ $650 at 1.1399 USD/EUR (range ≈ $547–$752). Premiums are quoted on request, so this is a curated market midpoint, not a public engine quote.
- Notes
- Residents are covered by the public SNS; private insurance is optional/supplementary. Cheaper outpatient-only plans start ≈ €10–20/month but exclude hospitalization — this figure is the with-inpatient comprehensive tier, chosen for cross-country comparability. Insurers repriced ~+10% for 2026.
Valletta
Not priced. Malta's health insurers (Atlas, Bupa Malta, GasanMamo, MAPFRE MSV Life) publish benefit limits but no premiums; prices are given only on a quote. The one rate card found belongs to a staff group scheme of the University of Malta, which is not comparable with an individual policy. For reference, the Nomad Residence Permit requires a prepaid policy with at least €100,000 of cover in the EU and the UK.
08
Money & crypto
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Crypto regulationLisbonstrongerLegal friendlyVallettaLegal regulated
What this measures
Own classification of the legal status of holding, trading and cashing out cryptocurrency for individuals: legal-friendly (legal with clear, favourable rules or explicit tax exemptions), legal-regulated (legal under standard licensing/AML and taxation), restricted (partial bans: payments or banking access prohibited), banned (holding/trading prohibited). Classified from national regulators' and central banks' official positions.
Rated by category· re-verified every 180 days
Lisbon
Autoridade Tributária — Criptoativos: conceito fiscal e tributação (folheto informativo)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jan 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Legal for individuals; regulated under EU MiCA/CARF. Since Law 24-D/2022: capital gains on crypto held ≥365 days are tax-EXEMPT (declared in Anexo G1); gains on assets held <365 days are taxed at a 28% autonomous rate (Category G, option to aggregate); crypto-to-crypto swaps are deferred (not taxed at the swap). Frequent/professional trading may be reclassified as Category B (general rates). Classified legal-friendly for the explicit long-term-holding exemption; short-term gains are still fully taxed.
Valletta
Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (Cap. 647) — Act XXXVI of 2024, as amended by Act XI of 2025
Official source
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Legal and licensed under the EU's MiCA regulation. The Markets in Crypto-Assets Act sets the national rules MiCA leaves to member states and names the Malta Financial Services Authority as competent authority for crypto-asset service providers and token issuers; it also provided for the repeal of the earlier Virtual Financial Assets Act. Nothing restricts individuals holding or trading crypto-assets.
02+−Financial control levelLisbonLowVallettaLow
What this measures
Own composite of state control over personal money flows: currency/capital controls (IMF AREAER), restrictions on foreign accounts and transfers, mandatory income declaration scope for residents, cash payment limits, banking access for foreigners. Low = free movement of personal funds and easy non-resident banking; very-high = strict capital controls and pervasive reporting. Method field on each value lists the inputs used.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
ASAE — cash-payment limits (Art. 63.º-E Lei Geral Tributária); euro-area free movement of capital
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Composite: euro-area member, no currency or capital controls, EUR fully convertible; free movement of capital guaranteed by the EU Treaty (Art. 63 TFEU). Non-resident bank accounts routinely available. Standard EU CRS/DAC reporting via banks; no FBAR-style personal foreign-account self-declaration for individuals. Cash-payment limit €2,999.99 for residents (natural persons) and €9,999.99 for non-residents not acting as merchants (Art. 63.º-E LGT) — a limit on cash, not on bank money movement. Rated 'low' state control over personal money flows.
Valletta
Composite — euro-area free movement of capital + S.L. 373.04 Use of Cash (Restriction) Regulations
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Mar 9, 2021
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Malta is a euro-area member of the EU, so capital moves freely under EU law and no currency or capital controls apply. The one restriction on personal money flows found is the Use of Cash (Restriction) Regulations (Legal Notice 81 of 2021): no cash payment of €10,000 or more, in one transaction or several linked ones within six months, for the purchase or sale of antiques, immovable property, jewellery and precious metals and stones, motor vehicles, sea-craft and works of art, on pain of a fine of at least 40% of the excess. There is no general cash ceiling on other payments. Classified 'low'.
09
Infrastructure
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−Domestic delivery qualityLisbonGoodVallettaGood
What this measures
Quality of in-country parcel delivery. excellent = nationwide next-day widely available, dense parcel-locker network, real-time tracking standard; good = 1–3 day delivery, lockers in major cities; basic = reliable but slow (3–7 days), mostly to-door or post-office pickup; poor = unreliable delivery, street addresses often unusable, informal workarounds common. Classified from official service/coverage data of the national postal operator and the two largest private carriers; inputs itemized in each value's method field.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Lisbon
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- National operator CTT offers next-day ('Expresso Para Amanhã') and 2-day express nationwide, with the Collectt pickup network (CTT shops + Payshop agents + Locky 24/7 parcel lockers) and real-time tracking. Private carriers DPD, GLS, DHL, UPS, Chronopost and Seur operate nationwide. Rated 'good' — 1–3 day delivery is the norm and lockers exist in cities, but locker density and universal next-day are below the best-in-class (e.g. Poland's InPost).
Valletta
MaltaPost — Easipik parcel lockers and local courier
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Classified from MaltaPost's own pages, read on 2026-10-10: a 24/7 network of Easipik parcel lockers around Malta and Gozo, free for MaltaPost deliveries (€3.50 for other couriers' parcels), lockers in three sizes up to 30 kg; a tracked local courier service to any address in Malta and Gozo, with optional pick-up from lockers or post offices and cash-on-delivery collection. No source for next-day delivery as a standard was found, so the top band is not given → 'good'.
02+−International delivery easeLisbonMinor frictionVallettaMinor friction
What this measures
Ease of receiving goods from abroad. seamless = major international carriers deliver door-to-door, meaningful duty-free de-minimis threshold, customs clearance predictable in days; minor-friction = carriers present but low de-minimis, extra paperwork or routine delays; significant-friction = frequent customs holds, high brokerage fees, some marketplaces refuse to ship; unreliable = parcels regularly lost or blocked, informal import channels dominate. De-minimis thresholds and clearance rules from the national customs authority (official source, cite the regulation); carrier presence from carriers' official pages.
Rated by category· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Intra-EU shipping is frictionless (single market, all major carriers). Non-EU imports: the €150 duty-free threshold was removed on 2026-07-01 — a temporary flat €3/item duty applies to ≤€150 consignments (until the 2028 EU Customs reform); import VAT has applied from €0 since 2021 (IOSS collects it at checkout). Predictable but no longer duty-free — hence minor-friction.
Valletta
European Commission — temporary €3 customs duty on low-value imports (from 1 July 2026)
Official source
- Data as of
- Jul 1, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Parcels from the EU single market arrive without customs. For non-EU imports the EU abolished the duty exemption on consignments up to €150 and since 1 July 2026 charges a temporary €3 customs duty per item, until 1 July 2028. MaltaPost's SendOn service gives shoppers forwarding addresses in Italy, Germany, the UK and the USA for stores that do not ship to Malta, with customs declarations required for goods bought from the UK.
03+−Internet speedMbps, median fixed downloadLisbon40Vallettastronger85
What this measures
Median fixed-broadband download speed over the trailing 6 months from M-Lab NDT open data (CC0), aggregated at country or city level. Not comparable with Ookla figures (different test methodology) — do not mix sources within this criterion.
Higher is better· Mbps, median fixed download· re-verified every 365 days
Lisbon
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Portugal
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- M-Lab NDT daily country medians for Portugal cluster at ≈ 39–42 Mbps (2024). Recorded as 40 Mbps. WebFetch truncates the JSON to ~mid-January, so the full-year median should be re-aggregated from the M-Lab BigQuery dataset next cycle.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is single-stream and reads well below Ookla-style figures (Portuguese fibre retail speeds are far higher) — comparable only within this criterion. Value should be re-verified against the full 2024/2025 M-Lab aggregate.
Valletta
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Malta
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2023
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Median of the 343 daily country-median download values for MT in 2023 (14,854 download tests; daily medians ranged 34.0-287.3 Mbps). 2023 is the year used across the dataset.
- Notes
- M-Lab NDT is a single-stream test and reads well below advertised fibre speeds; it is comparable only within this criterion.
10
Language
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−English proficiencyLisbonVery highVallettastrongerNative
What this measures
Own banding of how far English gets a resident in daily life (government offices, healthcare, housing, services). Informed by EF EPI band (research source, cited with attribution, not republished) plus official language status and service-sector realities. Values are our bands, not EF scores.
Rated by category· re-verified every 730 days
Lisbon
EF EPI 2025 — Portugal rank 6/123, score 612 (Very High band)
Research
- Data as of
- Nov 1, 2025
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Notes
- Own band informed by EF EPI (attribution: EF Education First). Portugal ranks 6th of 123 countries (score 612, 'Very High'). English is broadly workable in cities, tourism, tech and services; less consistent in local government/administration.
Valletta
Constitution of Malta, article 5 — Maltese and English are the official languages
Official source
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Maltese is the national language, but Maltese and English are both official languages: the administration may use either, and anyone may address it in English and must be answered in English. The courts are the exception: their language is Maltese, and Parliament may provide for the use of English in particular cases.
11
Education
CriterionLisbonValletta
01+−International schoolsaccredited international schools, countLisbonstronger11Valletta2
What this measures
Count of international schools in the metro area accredited by or member of IB, CIS, COBIS, or an equivalent national-curriculum-abroad body (verified against the accreditor's public registry, not aggregator sites).
Higher is better· accredited international schools, count· re-verified every 730 days
Lisbon
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jul 4, 2026
- Verified
- Jul 4, 2026
- Method
- Curated count of internationally-accredited schools in the Lisbon metro (Lisboa, Cascais, Sintra, Oeiras). Directly verified against their accreditor networks: Lycée Français Charles Lepierre (AEFE directly-managed establishment, aefe.gouv.fr) and Deutsche Schule Lissabon (German Auslandsschule under ZfA/Auswärtiges Amt, auslandsschulwesen.de). IB World Schools identified in the metro by name from IB 'by country' data and corroborating sources: St. Julian's (Carcavelos), St. Dominic's International (São Domingos de Rana), Carlucci/CAISL (Sintra), United Lisbon International, TASIS Portugal (Sintra), International Sharing School–Taguspark (Oeiras), Oeiras International School, PaRK International, plus The Lisboan (Cambridge + IB). Count = 11 named, accreditor-attributable schools.
- Notes
- ±3 uncertainty. The live IB World Schools finder and the Cambridge 'Find a Cambridge school' registry both returned HTTP 403 to automated fetch this cycle, so individual IB/Cambridge authorizations were confirmed from official-adjacent sources rather than each read directly against the accreditor's live registry; AEFE and the German school were verified directly. Portugal has ~16 IB World Schools in total, most clustered in the Lisbon metro, so the true metro count of all-accreditor international schools is likely somewhat higher than 11 (aggregator guides list 30+ 'international' schools, but many lack a recognised accreditor). Re-verify each authorization against the IB and Cambridge registries from a browser next cycle.
Valletta
IB World Schools Yearbook — IB World Schools in Malta, cross-checked against the IB directory
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- The IB World Schools Yearbook lists two IB World Schools in Malta, both teaching in English and authorised for the Diploma Programme, one also for the Middle Years and Career-related Programmes: St Edward's College in Birgu (IB code 004556), across the Grand Harbour from Valletta, and Verdala International School at Fort Pembroke (IB code 000832), which the IB's own page records as an IB World School since May 1995 (read through the Internet Archive; ibo.org answers our requests with 403). The CIS membership directory, queried on 2026-10-10 the way its own map does, returns no school in Malta, and COBIS's 2024 member file, re-read the same day, has no Maltese entry.
- Notes
- Counted for the whole urban area around the harbours rather than the walled city, which has none of its own. A third school, Haileybury Malta, appears in the IB directory's index (ibo.org/school/064905) but its page could not be read, so it is not counted.