Geography Quiz Arcade

Malta 🇲🇹

Malta is a country in Europe with a population of 533,286. Its capital is Valletta. The official currency is EUR, and the main languages are Maltese, English.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Valletta
  • Continent: Europe
  • Population: 533,286
  • Area: 316 km²
  • Density: 1,688 people per km²
  • Currency: EUR
  • Languages: Maltese, English
  • ISO code: MT

Where Malta sits

Malta 🇲🇹 is one of 46 countries in Europe, with its capital at Valletta. It covers 316 square kilometres — 188th in the world — and is home to about 533,286 people, 169th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, France and Italy. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Malta compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Malta sits closest to Maldives and Cabo Verde. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Maldives and Grenada.

At 1,688 people per square kilometre it is about 28 times the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

Maltese is listed as official in Malta alone. The EUR is shared with 25 other countries, including Andorra, Austria and Belgium, and 22 others.

To see Malta next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Malta

Valletta was built by the Knights of Saint John, and the knights link the capital and the flag: red and white are probably their colours. Look for the small George Cross in the corner to tell Malta from other red-and-white flags.

The flag of Malta: white and red, with the George Cross

🇲🇹 The flag is two vertical bands of white and red, with the George Cross, edged in red, in the top-left corner. Britain's King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta in 1942 for their bravery in World War II, and it was added to the flag. The red and white most likely come from the Knights of Saint John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798.

Region and neighbours

Malta is a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily and north of Libya, made up of Malta, Gozo, Comino and some smaller islands. As an island country it has no land neighbours.

Three facts about Malta

  1. Malta is the world's tenth-smallest country by area.
  2. The whole city of Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  3. The Megalithic Temples of Malta were built between about 3600 and 2500 BC, which makes them more than 4,500 years old.

Sources: Wikipedia: Malta, Wikipedia: Flag of Malta, Wikipedia: Valletta, Wikipedia: Megalithic Temples of Malta, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Malta

Quizzes that include Malta

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Malta those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Malta

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Malta flag?

The flag of Malta is two vertical bands of white and red, with the George Cross, edged in red, in the top-left corner. Britain's King George VI awarded the George Cross to the people of Malta in 1942 for their bravery in World War II, and it was added to the flag. The red and white most likely come from the Knights of Saint John, who ruled Malta from 1530 to 1798.

Which countries border Malta?

None. Malta is a small island country in the Mediterranean Sea, south of Sicily and north of Libya, made up of Malta, Gozo, Comino and some smaller islands, so it has no land borders with other countries.

How can I remember the capital of Malta?

Valletta was built by the Knights of Saint John, and the knights link the capital and the flag: red and white are probably their colours. Look for the small George Cross in the corner to tell Malta from other red-and-white flags.