Malta has a population of around 535,000 — a striking number for an archipelago of just 316 sq km, making it one of the most densely populated countries in the world. The main island of Malta holds most of the population; Gozo has around 37,000 people; Comino is almost uninhabited.
The Maltese are descendants of the island's Phoenician, Arab, Norman, and Aragonese settlers, with influences from the Knights of St John — a pan-European military order that governed Malta from 1530 to 1798 — clearly visible in names, architecture, and culture. The result is a people who are distinctly Mediterranean but hard to pin down as simply Italian or Arab or North African. The Maltese language itself — Semitic in structure, written in the Latin alphabet, with heavy borrowings from Italian, Arabic, and English — reflects this layered history neatly.
Roman Catholicism is deeply embedded in Maltese society. Nearly every town has at least one baroque church, and religious feast days punctuate the calendar. That said, attitudes have shifted noticeably in recent decades: same-sex civil unions were introduced in 2014, and Malta has become notably more socially liberal than its church attendance figures might suggest.
English is widely spoken and understood, a legacy of British rule from 1800 to 1964. Many Maltese code-switch easily between Maltese and English mid-sentence. Italian, once a prestige language of the educated classes, has declined sharply.
Malta joined the European Union in 2004 and adopted the euro in 2008. The economy runs largely on tourism, financial services, remote gaming, and a growing pharmaceutical sector. Unemployment is low and the standard of living is relatively high by European standards.