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Updates: 

Act No. XVI of 2009 was passed on 2009-09-30. It amends the Local Councils Act of 1993. One of its provisions is to add a new schedule titled "Regions". This schedule lists five regions with the local councils that belong to each. I have concluded that these replace the former three regions, effective with the Act.

According to Malta's Department of Local Councils (source [2]), Malta was divided into 68 localities under the Local Councils Act, published on 1993-06-30. The act was extensively amended on 1999-12-21. Obviously, the localities are governed by local councils. The localities were grouped into three regions.

Country overview: 

Short name	MALTA
ISO code	MT
FIPS code	MT
Language	Maltese (mt), English (en)
Time zone	+1 ~
Capital	Valletta

 

Malta was part of the British Empire until its independence on 1964-09-21.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Malta
2. Dutch: Malta, Republiek Malta (formal)
3. English: Republic of Malta (formal)
4. Finnish: Malta
5. French: Malte f
6. German: Malta n, Malteserorden m
7. Italian: Malta f
8. Maltese: Repubblika ta' Malta (formal)
9. Norwegian: Malta, Republikken Malta (formal)
10. Portuguese: Malta n (f in Brazil), República f de Malta (formal)
11. Spanish: Malta, República f de Malta f (formal)
12. Swedish: Malta

Origin of name: 

from Phoenician for refuge

Primary subdivisions: 

Malta is divided into five regions without administrative functions.

Region	HASC	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)
Central	MT.CE	102,380	23	9
Gozo	MT.GO	31,007	69	27
Northern	MT.NO	85,834	113	44
South Eastern	MT.SE	89,974	77	30
Southern	MT.SO	95,767	34	13
Total		404,962	315	122
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. Population: 2005-11-27 census. Area: Derived by adding areas of component local councils.

Postal codes: 

According to the Universal Postal Union's document on postal addressing systems, Malta uses a mixed system of postal codes. Codes for addresses on the island of Malta are five characters; on Gozo, six. They consist of letters, followed by a space, and then digits. The examples shown have three letters each.

Further subdivisions:

See the Localities of Malta page.

The regions are subdivided into localities.

At the NUTS-3 level, Malta is divided into the island of Malta (code MT001) and Gozo and Comino (MT002). These are not administrative divisions.

Territorial extent: 

Malta consists of the islands of Malta, Gozo (Maltese: Ghawdex), Comino (Kemmuna), Cominotto, Selmunett, and Filfla, and a few tiny islets. Only the first three are inhabited. Central, Northern, South Eastern, and Southern regions correspond to the island of Malta; Gozo region corresponds to all of the other islands. Within Gozo region, Ghajnsielem local council contains part of Gozo and all of Comino (and probably the smaller islands).

Change history: 

The following table shows statistical districts used prior to 1993 (source [6]).

Region	Population	Area(km.²)
Gozo and Comino	26,000	70
Inner Harbour	118,000	15
Northern	24,000	78
Outer Harbour	75,000	32
South Eastern	35,000	53
Western	36,000	69
Total	314,000	316
Population: 1967-11-26 census.

 

~1990: Inner Harbour and Outer Harbour districts regrouped to form Northern Harbour and Southern Harbour.

1993-06-30: Local Councils Act (source [2]), divided Malta into 68 localities, grouped into three regions.

Region	HASC	Population	Area(km.²)
Gozo	MT.GO	29,026	69
Malta Majjistral	MT.MM	215,222	170
Malta Xlokk	MT.MX	133,884	76
Totals		378,132	315
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. Population: 1995-11-26 census. Area: Derived by adding areas of component local councils.

 

2004-05-01: Malta joined the European Union.

2009-09-30: Act No. XVI of 2009 created Central and Northern regions from Malta Majjistral, Southern region from Malta Xlokk, and South Eastern region from parts of both Malta Majjistral and Malta Xlokk.

Sources:

1. [1] Act No. XVI of 2009 . Note: 32 pages in Maltese followed by 32 pages in English.
2. [2] Department of Local Councils website (http://www.justice.gov.mt/deptlc.asp - dead link, retrieved 2002-11-17).
3. [3] National Statistics Office (NSO) archives - publications  has a number of links. The ones headed "Demographic Review of the Maltese Islands" include population estimates for different years.
4. [4] NSO traffic accident summary  shows the relation between statistical districts and local councils.
5. [5] Census of Population and Housing, 2005: Volume 1, Population .
6. [6] Encyclopædia Britannica, 15th edition. Chicago, 1984.