If ever there was a need to confirm it, a survey has found that inflation is having an impact on people.
At the start of the second edition of the ‘State of the Nation’ national conference at the Verdala Palace, statistics expert and University of Malta lecturer Vincent Marmarà presented the results of the scientific survey on the evolution of the Maltese national identity.
The survey, which was conducted between the 28th of April and mid-May of this year, had a sample of 1,064 people aged over 16.
Marmarà explained that this study showed the extent of the effect of the pandemic restrictions on people’s lives, as this year the people stated that they are happier than last year. On the other hand, he noted that inflation is also having an impact on people, which is reflected in an increase in the number of people who said that their financial situation today is worse than a year ago.
Many believe in God, but do not give religion the same importance as the Maltese nation does as a whole, Marmarà also said.
Marmara also said that people are associating themselves with Europe more than they did a year ago.
The survey also found that people are giving less importance to politics, despite the survey being conducted just one month after the general election. It also resulted that people form their political opinions without giving much importance to the opinion of the political party, he said.
Strategic communications consultant Lou Bondi said that if this initiative is continued in the coming years, the picture of Maltese society will obviously become clearer and clearer. “Above all, every year we will better get to know where this nation is heading,” Bondi said.
He added that the topics chosen for this year’s conference acutely related to the current state of the nation.
Bondi said that like last year’s edition, this year’s speakers came from different walks of life. Subjects covered were the media, environment, corruption, and others.
“The topics and subjects that will be discussed are intended to build on what we learned about ourselves last year, so that we have an increasingly clear and complete picture”, President of Malta George Vella said during his introductory speech.
During his speech he also made reference to another presidency project which has national unity as its main theme. From the survey conclusions, Vella said that he will take aim at identifying areas which need be to be tackled to better the quality of life of the nation.
President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola said that she will be focusing more “on educating children and young people. Every country is undergoing rapid change. To take one example, we need only remember what happened when the pandemic broke out. In almost 24 hours, everything changed. Suddenly. Prompt changes were needed. The changes neither started nor stopped with Covid. They are lasting.”
She added that the nation as a whole needs to continue working for future generations to have better thinking skills. Speaking about the state of the nation, Metsola said that this depends on the abilities of children and youth and that “with the rapid economic, scientific, and technological developments that are taking place, children need to be prepared to be flexible, and know how to adapt.”.
She concluded by saying that the state of the nation depends on the decisions that the population takes every day, and therefore the change in the education sector should start from the choices that the population takes today, by ensuring that they are good ones.
Source: independent.com.mt
