Citizens in Malta were less satisfied with the pension system last year than they were five years before, an EU survey on quality of life has revealed.

An analysis of the data collected by Eurofound, the EU Agency for the improvement of living and working conditions, shows that while the level of satisfaction with healthcare and education increased significantly, the same could not be said for the pension system which was given a rating of 5.8 out of 10.

According to the data from the survey, which will be published in full next month, last year’s ranking was lower than the 7.2 given in 2011. At the time, this was the second-highest rating when compared to that of other EU Member States.

While still above the European average ranking of five, last year’s figure was no longer among highest with the top spots held by Luxemburg, Finland and the Netherlands.

Carried out every four years, the survey was conducted between September last year and February in all EU Member States as well as in the five candidate countries Albania, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Turkey.

The survey examines both the objective circumstances of the citizens’ lives as well as how they feel about these circumstances and their lives in general, with this latest edition specifically focusing on the quality of public services and the people’s experiences online.

The data also shows that citizens were more satisfied with health services and the education system in Malta, both being given a ranking of 7.8. When compared to the rest of the countries under review, satisfaction with the education system was the second highest in Malta last year, with that for healthcare being the third highest.

People in Malta were also recorded as being satisfied with the island’s public transport, with ranking increasing from four to six – the latter is still among the lowest when compared to other Member States. On childcare services, as in the previous edition of the survey, Malta’s ranking remained at the top, with citizens giving this a ranking of eight out of 10 last year. Similarly, satisfaction with long-term care services also remained at the top.

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