Given Malta's minuscule size this decrease represents a troublesome trend fraught with undesirable economic consequences covering the longer term. Divorce is the legal ending of a marriage. It is permitted under certain circumstances but is restricted because it breaks up a family, the basic unit of society. Some countries like Ireland and Malta prohibit divorce. Divorce differs from legal separation and annulment in ways prescribed by law but both share in common the diminishing or termination of a union.
Divorce affects many young children deeply and is a sizable problem in many countries.
Divorce is now up for consideration to legalize it in Malta. People previously considered divorce unacceptable, but after WWII it gained acceptability as a flawed but workable substitute for living together as a broken family. Divorce being illegal, no hard government statistics are readily available showing the incidence of marriage break-ups in Malta. A best guess is that the growing trend towards marital dysfunction and eventual termination of matrimonial bonds is on a percentage basis at par with Southern Italy, a Catholic stronghold whose regional profile and mentality closely approximate those of Malta. The shift from conventional marriage in eternity to other alternative lifestyles is not of necessity proof of lessening moral values, but more accurately approximates a departure away from ossified rituals and customs of old in favor of a more relaxed lifestyle, better attuned to contemporary existence and pressures.