Return migration to the Maltese Islands in the postwar years

Abstract

It is commonly held in Malta that return migration in the postwar period! ha's been practically negligible. This impression seems to have prevailed also in government circles and is implicit in the reports of foreign economic advisers to the Malta Government. Policies on migration have been consequently reduced to strategies on attracting and encouraging emigration; policies on return migration are conspicuous by their absence although some constraints on the economic activity of migrant returnees were introduced in 1977. The ,question of return migration is critically relevant for the formulation of demographic and economic policies ,in the Maltese islands. An unpredicted high return migration would disorientate projected government plans for social and productive investment and render unattainable the desired rate of growth, of employment. Yet, despite t'he obvious importance of this factor, no attempt has been made to estimate the flow of return migration since the War. Indeed official statistics tended to under-estimate grossly the number of migrant returnees until 1974, when a change in the definition of a 'return migrant' was introduced.. This paper assesses the extent of the return migration to Malta and Gozo up to 1974, that is, during the years when official data register a very low incidence of Maltese migrant returnees. It comments on Maltese migration statistics and derives an estimate of the net return flow. Some implications for economic planning of the results obtained conclude the paper,