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Policy profile on 12 axes

How Malta Is Governed

Malta is a unitary state that scores 0.62 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 37% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Below: the laws, institutions and public spending of Malta, scored on the same 12 axes as the test, with every indicator and source.

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Policy profile

The 12 axes, indicator by indicator

This profile describes the country's policy regime (laws, institutions and public spending) from published indices, not the views of its people or its current leaders. Data as of October 2026; each value shows its own year.

Ownership+0.40PublicPrivate4 indicators and sources
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): Typical of OECD economies: state utilities, rail, post, some energy (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Property Rights (0-100): 85.5 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Investment Freedom (0-100): 60 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Financial Freedom (0-100): 50 (2026). Source
Markets+0.40PlannedFree5 indicators and sources
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Business Freedom (0-100): 83.2 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Labor Freedom (0-100): 62.6 (2026). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Monetary Freedom (0-100): 73.1 (2026). Source
  • Regulatory Quality, estimate (-2.5 to 2.5): 0.41 (2025). Source
  • State ownership of the economy (coded tier): Typical of OECD economies: state utilities, rail, post, some energy (2026). Source
Welfare-0.10SharedSelf-reliant3 indicators and sources
  • General government total expenditure (% of GDP): 36.89 (2025). Source
  • Domestic general government health expenditure (% of GDP): 5.84 (2023). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Tax Burden (0-100): 68.5 (2026). Source
Authority-0.50DemocraticStrong leader2 indicators and sources
  • Liberal Democracy Index (0-1): 0.62 (2025). Source
  • Judicial constraints on the executive (0-1): 0.79 (2025). Source
Security-0.55LibertyOrder4 indicators and sources
  • Freedom in the World civil liberties score (0-60): 53 (2025). Source
  • World Press Freedom Index score (0-100): 61.44 (2026). Source
  • Death penalty status: Abolished for all crimes (2025). Source
  • Prison population per 100,000 people: 119 (2024). Source
Structure+1.00LocalCentral2 indicators and sources
  • Territorial form of the state: Unitary state (2025). Source
  • Strong elected regional governments index (0-1): 0 (2025). Source
Morality-0.20ProgressiveTraditional3 indicators and sources
  • Same-sex marriage law (0 marriage, 1 civil union or partnership, 2 no recognition, 3 constitutional or statutory ban): Same-sex marriage legal (2026). Source
  • Abortion law: Prohibited, or only to save the woman's life (2025). Since 2023 allowed only when the woman's life is at risk. Source
  • Women, Business and the Law: Legal Framework Index (0-100): 88.35 (2025). Source
Religion+0.05SecularReligious2 indicators and sources
  • Religion and the state: Established or official religion, or religious law in part of the territory or courts (2025). Source
  • Blasphemy or religious-insult law in force: None (2025). Source
Technology+0.50EmbraceCaution3 indicators and sources
  • Research and development expenditure (% of GDP): 0.65 (2023). Source
  • Nuclear power policy: No nuclear power, no legal ban (2025). Source
  • Genetically modified crop cultivation: Cultivation banned or opted out (2025). Source
Culture-0.30MulticulturalNational identity4 indicators and sources
  • International migrant stock (% of population): 36.97 (2024). Source
  • Citizenship by birth in the territory: None: citizenship by descent only (2025). Source
  • Residence required for ordinary naturalization (years; 0 = no ordinary route): 5 years (2025). Source
  • Dual citizenship for naturalizing adults: Allowed (2025). Source
Trade-0.75GlobalProtected4 indicators and sources
  • Tariff rate, applied, weighted mean, all products (%): 1.33 (2022). Source
  • Tariff rate, applied, simple mean, all products (%): 1.95 (2022). Source
  • Index of Economic Freedom 2026: Trade Freedom (0-100): 79.4 (2026). Source
  • Trade (exports + imports) (% of GDP): 219.01 (2025). Source
Foreign policy-0.90CooperationStrength5 indicators and sources
  • Military expenditure (% of GDP): 0.45 (2025). Source
  • Military conscription: None: volunteer forces or no military (2025). Source
  • Nuclear weapons status (0 none, 1 considers, 2 pursues, 3 possesses): No nuclear weapons program (2023). Source
  • Party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: State party (2026). Source
  • Collective defense commitments: Other mutual defense commitment only (EU Treaty art. 42.7, Rio Treaty, Arab League treaty, bilateral pact) (2026). Source

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Policy neighbours

Governed most like Malta

Every other country with a profile, tinted by how close its laws, institutions and public spending are to those of Malta on the same 12 axes. The percentage uses the 12 Axes match formula.

  1. 1Bulgaria89%
  2. 2Cyprus87%
  3. 3Iceland85%
  4. 4Luxembourg84%
  5. 5Ireland83%
Least similarIran45%
World map of countries by how similar their policy regime is to MaltaClosest: 1. Bulgaria 89%, 2. Cyprus 87%, 3. Iceland 85%, 4. Luxembourg 84%, 5. Ireland 83%, 6. Lithuania 83%, 7. Portugal 82%, 8. Latvia 81%, 9. Croatia 80%, 10. New Zealand 80%. Least similar: Iran 45%. Every country is in the list after the map.Malta
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FAQ

Malta: questions

How is Malta governed, on the 12 axes?

Malta is a unitary state that scores 0.62 out of 1 on the V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index (2025). Government spending is 37% of GDP (IMF, 2025), the death penalty is abolished and same-sex marriage is legal. Its policy regime leans furthest toward Central on Structure (+1.00), Cooperation on Foreign policy (-0.90) and Global on Trade (-0.75), on a scale from -1 to +1.

Which countries are governed most like Malta?

On the same 12 axes, the closest policy regimes are Bulgaria (89%), Cyprus (87%) and Iceland (85%). The furthest is Iran (45%). Matches use the same formula as the 12 Axes test.

Where does the data on Malta come from?

From 41 indicators dated 2022 to 2026, published by V-Dem, Freedom House, the Heritage Foundation, the IMF, the OECD, the World Bank, SIPRI, Reporters Without Borders, the World Prison Brief, UN DESA and others. Among them: a press freedom score of 61.4 out of 100 (RSF, 2026), 119 prisoners per 100,000 people (2024), military spending of 0.4% of GDP (SIPRI, 2025) and 37% of residents born abroad (UN DESA, 2024). Every value, year and source is listed in the profile above.

Does the profile describe what people in Malta think?

No. It describes the policy regime: laws, institutions and public spending. It does not measure public opinion or the speeches of the current government. To see which country is governed closest to your own views, take the 12 Axes test and open the country match on your result.

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