Economic summary:GDP/PPP (2005
est.): $7.568 billion; per capita $19,000. Real growth rate:
1.5%. Inflation: 2.8%. Unemployment: 7.8%. Arable
land: 31%. Agriculture: potatoes, cauliflower, grapes,
wheat, barley, tomatoes, citrus, cut flowers, green peppers; pork,
milk, poultry, eggs. Labor force: 160,000; agriculture 3%,
industry 22%, services 75%. Industries: tourism, electronics,
shipbuilding and repair, construction, food and beverages, textiles,
footwear, clothing, tobacco. Natural resources: limestone,
salt, arable land. Exports: $2.744 billion f.o.b. (2005
est.): machinery and transport equipment, manufactures.
Imports: $3.859 billion f.o.b. (2005 est.): machinery and
transport equipment, manufactured and semimanufactured goods; food,
drink, tobacco. Major trading partners: U.S., France,
Singapore, UK, Germany, Italy (2004).
Member of Commonwealth of Nations
Communications: Telephones: main lines
in use: 187,000 (1997); mobile cellular: 17,691 (1997). Radio
broadcast stations: AM 1, FM 18, shortwave 6 (1999).
Radios: 255,000 (1997). Television broadcast stations:
6 (2000). Televisions: 280,000 (1997). Internet Service
Providers (ISPs): 6 (2002). Internet users: 59,000
(2002).
Transportation: Railways: 0 km.
Highways: total: 2,254 km; paved: 1,972 km; unpaved: 282 km
(2000). Ports and harbors: Marsaxlokk, Valletta.
Airports: 1 (2002).
The five Maltese islands—Malta, Gozo, Comino, Comminotto, and
Filflawith—have a combined land area smaller than Philadelphia.
Malta is located in the Mediterranean Sea, about 60 mi (97 km) south of
the southeast tip of Sicily.
Government
Republic.
History
The strategic importance of Malta was recognized by the Phoenicians,
who occupied it, as did, in turn, the Greeks, Carthaginians, and Romans.
The apostle Paul was shipwrecked there in A.D.
60. With the division of the Roman Empire in A.D. 395, Malta was assigned to the eastern portion
dominated by Constantinople. Between 870 and 1090, it came under Arab
rule. In 1091, the Norman noble Roger I, then ruler of Sicily, came to
Malta with a small retinue and defeated the Arabs. The Knights of St. John
(Malta), who obtained the three habitable Maltese islands of Malta, Gozo,
and Comino from Charles V in 1530, reached their highest fame when they
withstood an attack by superior Turkish forces in 1565. Napoléon
seized Malta in 1798, but the French forces were ousted by British troops
the next year, and British rule was confirmed by the Treaty of Paris in
1814.
Malta was heavily attacked by German and Italian aircraft during World
War II but was never invaded by the Axis powers. It became an independent
nation on Sept. 21, 1964, and a republic on Dec. 13, 1974, but it remained
in the British Commonwealth. In 1979, when its alliance with Great Britain
ended, Malta sought to guarantee its neutrality through agreements with
other countries. Although Malta applied for membership in the European
Union, when the Labour Party won the election in Oct. 1996, it froze
Malta's EU application and withdrew from the NATO Partnership for Peace
program in an effort to maintain its neutrality. When the Nationalist
Party won the Sept. 1998 elections, however, it revived the EU accession
bid, and in May 2004 Malta joined the EU. In July 2005, it ratified the
proposed EU constitution.
