Malta can boast the highest percentage of computer graduates among the 27 EU member states, according to figures published this week by Eurostat, the EU's statistics office.
According to Eurostat, in 2005 only 1.9% of all graduates in Malta were in ICT-related fields but by 2009 the figure had gone up to 5.6% - therefore between 2005 and 20009 the number of ICT graduates has increased by almost 4%. On the other hand, the EU saw the average number of ICT graduates shrink to 3.4% from 4% in 2005.
Back in 2009, Malta also had the highest percentage of graduates specialising in ICT in the EU together with Austria. While Italy and Portugal only had 1.3 and 1.7% of ICT graduates.
According to the above statistics it can clearly be seen that Malta is becoming more and more tech savvy. Indeed, last year, the percentage of computer users in the 16 to 74 age bracket was at 72% – this figure being 2% lower than the EU average. Furthermore 98% of the Maltese aged between 16 and 24 used a computer - 2% higher than the EU average.
Malta has invested heavily in the ICT sector and has also devoted a lot of time in instilling an ICT culture especially among the younger generation. Indeed, this state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure has accelerated the island’s progress in this field which has become one of the world’s largest growing sectors. In fact, The Global Information Technology Report 2010-2011 released by the World Economic Forum ranked the Maltese government as the 4th most successful government in the world in promoting ICT.
A number of schemes have been introduced to make internet access easier around the island and most classrooms in all state schools have been equipped with such technology. Malta has also developed an advanced e-government system which provides easy access to public services via the internet.
