Reproductive performance on the Maltese Islands during the First World War

Abstract

The advent of war in any country heralds a total upheaval in the social and demographic characteristics of the community through "war casualties" and changes in the reproductive patterns in the population. Demographic changes may also be evident in neighbouring countries which may only be indirectly involved in the conflict. These indirect effects may have been more pronounced in the past, when the colonial policy practiced by various powers involved countries far-removed from the area of conflict. The present study aims to assess the effects of the First World War on a closed island community in the Central Mediterranean. During the First World War, the Central Mediterranean played a minor role since the major powers interested in the region - England, France, and Italy - were fighting on the same side. The Maltese Islands served as a "nurse of the Mediterranean" caring for wounded soldiers, as a dockyard for the British Navy, as a place of internment for prisoners-of-war, and as a home for refugees from Egypt and other neighbouring countries. One year after commencement of hostilities Malta had been declared a base hospital and by the Gallipoli evacuation in January 1916, the Island could cater for 20,000 convalescents in 27 hospitals and convalescent centres throughout the Island. By mid-1916, twelve months after the first convoy of 600 had arrived, Malta had treated 80,000 convalescents. The War had a major economic impact on the Islands. The disruption of trade reduced government revenue, food prices tended to rise in response to shortages and higher freight rates, with the result that the cost of living soon rose rapidly. The prices of bread, sugar and meat were mostly affected in spite of the Government's strict control of prices and a subsidy to millers. Black market was rampant. This economic depression, coupled with the departing men who joined the Services, may have been contributory to the minor changes in demography that can be noted for the period.