01
Cost of living
$1,278/mo
MTVerified relocation data for the location-independent
Malta for remote workers.
EU island state in the central Mediterranean using the euro, with Maltese and English as official languages; three in ten of its 588,000 residents are foreign citizens. A self-employed freelancer pays progressive income tax, 0% up to €12,000, plus Class 2 social security capped at €4,362 a year — about 24% at €60,000. Non-EU remote workers can use the Nomad Residence Permit (from €42,000 a year), taxed at 10% after the first twelve months, for up to four years.
VerifiedUpdated
1 city · 2 schemes · 5 active paths
MT · SettleMetric
01
At a glance
The headline numbers for Malta — each with its own source and freshness. A live official figure is not the same as a survey estimate or a 30-year climate normal.
6.5/10
02
Rent, 1–3 bed
no verified data
03
Freelancer tax
24.1%
Safety
9.2/100.89/100k
Internet
6.4/1085 Mbps
English
10.0/10Native
Private health
no verified data
Crypto
8.0/10Legal regulated
What the tags meanofficial — live figure from a government or authorityopen data — open dataset (Eurostat, EEA, M-Lab, UdSC…)survey — survey or index estimatecurated — SettleMetric-assembled estimate — open the source for the method
02
What it costs you per month
A planning estimate: real asking rent plus a cost-of-living basket scaled to your household. Not a quote.
Household
Lifestyle
Location
Estimated total
$2,231/mo
≈ $26,772 / year
Where it goes
- Rent (1-bed)$953
- Food & non-alcoholic beverages$290
- Transport$147
- Restaurants & hotels$123
- Other goods & services (incl. personal care)$123
- Furnishings & household equipment$105
- Health (out-of-pocket)$92
- Clothing & footwear$85
- Recreation & culture$82
- Communication$65
- Housing energy (electricity, gas, fuels)$49
- Housing maintenance & repair$45
- Alcoholic beverages & tobacco$45
- Housing operating costs (water, waste, common charges)$22
- Education$5
- Living costs$1,278
Rent from the asking-rent matrix below. Living costs scale a one-person basket ($1,278/mo) by household size and lifestyle; the equivalence factors are our assumption. Schooling and one-off setup are excluded.
03
Cost of living
What a single person spends each month — food, utilities, transport, eating out and the rest — excluding rent.
01Cost of living (single, excl. rent)1,278USD/month, single person, excluding rent6.5
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 betterUSD/month, single person, excluding rentre-verified every 365 days
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.
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 beverages290 USD
02Transport147 USD
03Restaurants & hotels123 USD
04Other goods & services (incl. personal care)123 USD
05Furnishings & household equipment105 USD
06Health (out-of-pocket)92 USD
07Clothing & footwear85 USD
08Recreation & culture82 USD
09Communication65 USD
10Housing energy (electricity, gas, fuels)49 USD
11Housing maintenance & repair45 USD
12Alcoholic beverages & tobacco45 USD
13Housing operating costs (water, waste, common charges)22 USD
14Education5 USD
Malta's single-person household-budget basket, excluding rent.
04
Housing
What it costs to rent, by apartment type and location.
SettleMetric — population-weighted average of covered cities (Valletta)
Curated by SettleMetric
- Data as of
- Jun 30, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- Population-weighted mean of the rent-breakdown matrices of Valletta; each cell averages the cities that report it. See each city page for its exact local matrix.
| Apartment | Central | Outside centre |
|---|---|---|
| Studio | — | — |
| 1-bedroom | — | 953 USD/mo |
| 2-bedroom | — | 1,121 USD/mo |
| 3-bedroom | — | 1,289 USD/mo |
05
Safety
How safe daily life is, from official crime statistics.
01Homicide rate0.9intentional homicides per 100,000/year9.2
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 betterintentional homicides per 100,000/yearre-verified every 730 days
Open data
Eurostat — police-recorded intentional homicide (ICCS0101, per 100k)
- 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.
Eurostat — police-recorded offences by category (crim_off_cat, ICCS, unit P_HTHAB)
Open data
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Police-recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (ICCS categories: theft 0502, burglary 0501, robbery 0401, serious assault 020111, drug offences 0601, sexual violence 0301). In counts: 4,235 thefts, 726 burglaries, 246 robberies, 236 serious assaults, 217 drug offences and 141 sexual-violence offences. Robbery has risen from 101 cases in 2021 to 246 in 2024, while burglary fell from 1,270 in 2019 to 726. Recording practices and legal definitions differ between countries, so read the levels as context, not a league table.
01Theft752per 100k
02Burglary129per 100k
03Robbery43.7per 100k
04Serious assault41.9per 100k
05Drug offences38.5per 100k
06Sexual violence25per 100k
Police-recorded offences per 100,000 inhabitants, 2024 (ICCS categories: theft 0502, burglary 0501, robbery 0401, serious assault 020111, drug offences 0601, sexual violence 0301). In counts: 4,235 thefts, 726 burglaries, 246 robberies, 236 serious assaults, 217 drug offences and 141 sexual-violence offences. Robbery has risen from 101 cases in 2021 to 246 in 2024, while burglary fell from 1,270 in 2019 to 726. Recording practices and legal definitions differ between countries, so read the levels as context, not a league table.
OSCE ODIHR Hate Crime Reporting — Malta (official police-recorded data)
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2024
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- ODIHR 2024: 18 hate crimes recorded by the police within the OSCE definition (2023: 27), taken from the National Police System; two offences motivated by political opinion fall outside the definition and are excluded. By bias: racist and xenophobic 9 (3 physical assaults, 3 disturbances of the peace, 3 threats), anti-LGBTI 6, gender-based 2, religion 1. Prosecution and sentencing figures are not available. Not comparable across countries.
18
recorded by police
9
racist / xenophobic
ODIHR 2024: 18 hate crimes recorded by the police within the OSCE definition (2023: 27), taken from the National Police System; two offences motivated by political opinion fall outside the definition and are excluded. By bias: racist and xenophobic 9 (3 physical assaults, 3 disturbances of the peace, 3 threats), anti-LGBTI 6, gender-based 2, religion 1. Prosecution and sentencing figures are not available. Not comparable across countries.
06
Healthcare
What comprehensive private medical cover costs.
01Private healthcare costno 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 betterUSD/year, comprehensive private insurance premium, healthy 35-year-oldre-verified every 365 days
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.
07
Money & crypto
Crypto rules and how freely personal money moves.
01Crypto regulationLegal regulated8.0
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
Official source
Markets in Crypto-Assets Act (Cap. 647) — Act XXXVI of 2024, as amended by Act XI of 2025
- 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 levelLow10.0
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
Curated by SettleMetric
Composite — euro-area free movement of capital + S.L. 373.04 Use of Cash (Restriction) Regulations
- 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'.
08
Infrastructure
Internet speed and how parcels get to your door.
01Domestic delivery qualityGood7.0
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
Curated by SettleMetric
MaltaPost — Easipik parcel lockers and local courier
- 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'.
02International delivery easeMinor friction7.0
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
Official source
European Commission — temporary €3 customs duty on low-value imports (from 1 July 2026)
- 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.
03Internet speed85Mbps, median fixed download6.4
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 betterMbps, median fixed downloadre-verified every 365 days
Open data
M-Lab NDT country aggregates for Malta
- 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.
09
Language
How far English gets you in daily life and services.
01English proficiencyNative10.0
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
Official source
Constitution of Malta, article 5 — Maltese and English are the official languages
- 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.
10
Demographics
Who else lives here — the share of foreign residents and the largest national communities, from official statistics.
Openness to foreignersModerateGallup MAI 4.95/9 · 2016
What this measures
How accepting the resident population is of migrants and foreigners — the inverse of xenophobia, a real concern for someone relocating. Our own five-band reading (very-open / open / moderate / reserved / low) informed primarily by the Gallup Migrant Acceptance Index (0–9 scale: three questions on migrants living in the country, becoming neighbours, and marrying into the family; 2019 wave), cross-checked where available with the World Values Survey wave 7 / European Values Study 2017 question on whether people would not want immigrants or foreign workers as neighbours (a higher share = more hostile). Banding guide against the Gallup 0–9 score: ≥7.0 very-open, 5.5–7.0 open, 4.0–5.5 moderate, 2.5–4.0 reserved, below 2.5 low (the 2019 global average of 5.21 sits in 'moderate'). Country level only: no credible city-level survey of attitudes to foreigners exists, so on city pages the country reading is shown as country context. Gallup is a research source cited with attribution, not republished in bulk; the raw index score/year and any cross-check figure are carried inside each value. Value shape: { band, gallupMai?, gallupYear?, unwantedNeighborPct?, unwantedNeighborSource? }. Display-only: attitudinal, survey-based and ~2019 vintage, so it is shown as honest context and never folded into the composite score.
Reference data—re-verified every 1825 days
Research
- Data as of
- Aug 23, 2017
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- Gallup MAI 4.95 on the 0-9 scale (2016-2017 wave), in the moderate band (4.0-5.5). Malta is not in the table Gallup published for the 2019 wave.
NSO Malta — World Population Day: 11 July 2026 (News Release 120/2026), Table 10
Official source
- Data as of
- Dec 31, 2025
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Method
- 182,693 foreign citizens among 588,254 residents at the end of 2025 (Maltese 405,561) = 31.1%.
- Notes
- Read through the Internet Archive capture of 22 July 2026, because nso.gov.mt answers automated requests with a bot challenge. NSO estimates build on the 2021 census. The foreign share was 22.2% at the census (115,449 of 519,562) and is rising with net migration of 13,906 in 2025, most of it non-EU; in the Northern Harbour district, around Sliema and St Julian's, 43.9% of residents are foreign.
Largest communities of the total population115,449 total
Official source
- Data as of
- Nov 21, 2021
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- The census (reference date 21 November 2021) is the latest source with individual nationalities; the foreign population has grown by more than half since, to 182,693 at the end of 2025. Each person is counted once, under an EU citizenship where they hold one; British citizens count as non-EU. The ten largest groups shown hold 60,754 of the 115,449; the census table puts 22,443 other EU citizens, 8,512 other Europeans and 23,569 others in residual groups. Read through the Internet Archive capture of the NSO workbook (September 2025).
01Italy2.7%13,838
02United Kingdom2%10,614
03India1.5%7,764
04Philippines1.5%7,571
05Serbia1.1%5,533
06Bulgaria0.7%3,729
07Libya0.6%3,311
08Syria0.6%2,861
09Nepal0.5%2,819
10Albania0.5%2,714
The census (reference date 21 November 2021) is the latest source with individual nationalities; the foreign population has grown by more than half since, to 182,693 at the end of 2025. Each person is counted once, under an EU citizenship where they hold one; British citizens count as non-EU. The ten largest groups shown hold 60,754 of the 115,449; the census table puts 22,443 other EU citizens, 8,512 other Europeans and 23,569 others in residual groups. Read through the Internet Archive capture of the NSO workbook (September 2025).
11
Your tax options
- 01Nomad Residence Permit holder — 10% income tax on remote work for foreign clients or employers10.0%burden at €60k
- 02Self-employed (self-occupied) — progressive income tax plus Class 2 social security15% of profit (min 1,881, max 4,362/year) + progressive on profit: 0% up to 12,000, 15% up to 16,000, 25% up to 60,000, 35% above26.6%burden at €60k
See what you would keep
Your income against Malta's real tax schemes — the same engine as the full calculator.
- 1 Nomad Residence Permit holder — 10% income tax on remote work for foreign clients or employers54,000 EURnet/year10.0% burden
- 2 Self-employed (self-occupied) — progressive income tax plus Class 2 social security44,038 EURnet/year26.6% burden
12
Your legalization options
- 01Visa-free short stay (Schengen)Visa-free stayUS citizens, UK citizens, Ukrainian citizensMalta is in the Schengen area: a stay of up to 90 days in any 180-day period, counted across all Schengen states3 mo
- 02Nomad Residence PermitDigital nomad visaAll except EU citizensincome ≥ 42,000 EUR/yearThird-country national aged 18 or over who can work remotely using telecommunications technology; EU, EEA and Swiss nationals cannot apply, nor, currently, nationals of Russia, Belarus and several other listed countries1 yr +
- 03EU/EEA citizens — registration and eResidence documentSpecial programEU citizensNo permit is needed to live and work in Malta; anyone staying longer than three months must register with Identità and receives an eResidence document according to the basis of residence5 yrs +→ PR path
- 04Residence permit for self-employment (non-EU nationals)Freelance permitAll except EU citizensAn application to Jobsplus for an Employment Licence must come first; the residence permit on the basis of self-employment is then requested from Identità1 yr +→ PR path
- 05Temporary protection for people displaced from UkraineSpecial programUkrainian citizensCovered by the EU temporary protection decision for people displaced from Ukraine, which the Council extended to 4 March 2028 (Implementing Decision (EU) 2026/1912)17 mo +
13
Who is Malta for?
The same place reads differently depending on why you move. Each lens pulls the facts that matter most for that plan — with sources, and the trade-offs stated plainly.
Contract or freelance in tech, billing clients abroad.
Works in your favour
English proficiencyNative
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.
Domestic delivery qualityGood
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'.
Watch-outs
Freelancer tax burden24.1%
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.
Internet speed85 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.
Cost of living (single, excl. rent)$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.
Relocating with a partner and school-age children.
Works in your favour
Homicide rate0.89/100k
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.
English proficiencyNative
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.
Private healthcare costno verified data
Residency Malta Agency — Nomad Residence Permit FAQs: health insurance requirements
Official source
- Data as of
- Oct 10, 2026
- Verified
- Oct 10, 2026
- Notes
- 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.
Optimising tax, banking and crypto rules.
Works in your favour
Crypto regulationLegal 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.
Financial control levelLow
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'.
Watch-outs
Freelancer tax burden24.1%
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.
Prioritising safety, air, and an easy daily life.
Works in your favour
Homicide rate0.89/100k
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.
Domestic delivery qualityGood
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'.
Watch-outs
Cost of living (single, excl. rent)$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.
14
Cities
1 city
15
Video reviews
Hand-picked YouTube tours and living-here guides — each one checked to still play.
Malta, the good and the not so good: our verdict
Amelia And JP Abroad · A travelling couple weighs Malta as a base
16