Where is it better to live in Malta or in Brunei?
To answer the question - which country - Malta or Brunei, is more comfortable for living, let’s compare different constituents which make the standard of living:
Would you like to contrast other countries? Fill them in the proper gaps and choose the criteria for comparison:
Perhaps, it’s difficult to argue that it’s better to live in a rich country than in a poor one. As of 2024 year data, the basic indicator of the economic development - GDP by purchasing power parity per capita - was:
● In Malta - 74,3 thousand dollars,
● In Brunei - 89,2 thousand dollars.
Thus, according to the gross production per one person, Brunei leaves Malta behind by %.
Let’s compare the data about average labor level pay in both countries.
The average gross salary (before the taxes and other mandatory fees) is:
● in Malta - 1,848 EUR (about 2000 US$);
● in Brunei - 4,780 Brunei dollars (about 3500 US$).
Where are the prices lower? up↑
The average GDP gap gets worse by the difference of the life price. According to the statistics of the data base Numbeo, at the beginning of 2025 year, Malta is a more expensive country.
The price level in Malta for basic goods and services (including food, consumer goods, transport, mobile connection and utility bills) is on average % higher than in Brunei. In other words, at the current exchange rate 1000 dollars in Brunei will have the same purchasing power as dollars in Malta.
Where is the crime rate lower? up↑
One can evaluate the general level of criminal situation with the help of “crime rate”. This indicator is calculated by the portal Numbeo, which specializes in rating scores of different life aspects in all the world regions and shows how safe it is to live in the country from a risk of becoming a victim of lawbreakers (the higher the crime rate is, the higher the risk is). As of 2025 year, the crime rate is:
● in Malta - 43;
● in Brunei - 29.3
***
To estimate the population law-abidingness and law enforcement activity, let’s pay attention to the statics of premeditated murders and to the data about the number of Maltese and Bruneians, being imprisoned.
Yearly out of 100 thousand people, murders kill:
● in Malta - 0.38 people;
● in Brunei - 0.49 people
***As of 2023 year, in prisons and criminal camps the number of inmates is:
● in Malta - 864, or 159 prisoners per 100,000 people;
● in Brunei - 841, or 186 prisoners per 100,000 people
So, they kill and get imprisoned more in Brunei, though according to the crime rate, the more criminal country is Malta.
Where do people get sick less and live longer? up↑
The life quality is greatly defined by how long the people live. According to the latest data, the life expectancy is:
● in Malta - 81.9 years (79.9 years among men and 83.8 years among women)
● in Brunei - 74.3 years (73.4 years among men and 75.4 years among women)
***
To get an idea about the nation’s health and the system of health care, one should look at the spread of dangerous diseases in the country.
The number of people infected by tuberculosis is: ● in Malta - 60 people (14 per 100,000 people); ● in Brunei - 280 people (64 per 100,000 people)
The cancer situation is the following: ● in Malta per 100 000 people yearly one finds 244.6 new cases of the disease and registers 79.8 lethal cases; ● in Brunei per 100k people every year one fixes 224 of newly infected people and 107.8 lethal cases from cancer. We should not judge about the quality of medicine only by the number of cancer cases, we should look at the ratio between the number of new cases and the number of cancer deaths (the lower it is, the higher the rate of the cured ones is; consequently, the better the health care system works). In the countries under consideration, we see the following ratio between the newly-infected and the dead: ● in Malta - ; ● in Brunei - Where do people drink and smoke less? up↑ It’s considered that It’s more comfortable to live in that country where people are less exposed to bad habits. The following WHO data show that the situation with the alcohol consumption (pure alcohol) runs as this: ● in Malta - 8 liters per every person older 15 years old (about 12.4 litres per every man and 3.6 litres per every woman); ● in Brunei - 0.5 liters per every person older 15 years old (about 0.7 litres per every man and 0.2 litres per every woman) How noticeable are the differences in alcoholic beverages of the Maltese and the Bruneians? ● in Malta, in terms of pure alcohol, beer accounts for 39.4% % of consumption, wine accounts for 32.7% of consumption, strong drinks (vodka and cognac, etc.) account for 27.2%;
● in Brunei beer accounts for 89.8% from the total amount of alcohol consumption, wine accounts for 2.3%, strong drinks - 7.2%
***
Addiction to smoking in the countries under consideration is seen like that:
● in Malta there are 24,7 % of active smokers among the adults (26,3 % of adult males and 23,2 % of adult females smoke there);
● in Brunei 16,4 % of adult population smoke on a constant base (30,7 % of men and 2,2 % of women)
Where do people have more reasons to be satisfied with their lives? up↑
Perhaps, it’s very difficult to make up an indicator, with the help of which one can define how much the people of this or that country are satisfied by their lives. Nevertheless, there have been a couple of researches.
There is an overall index, is used by UNO - Human Development Index (HDI). This index considers various reasons why citizens feel comfortable. According to 2022 data, HDI in Malta is 0.918; in Brunei - 0.829.
***
To indirectly evaluate how much the people are satisfied with their lives, one can consider the number of suicides. It comes logically that the better the lives of the people are arranged, the fewer reasons for the suicides there are. In the countries under consideration, per 100 000 people there are:
● in Malta - 5,3 suicides (8,4 among men and 2,3 among women) ;
● in Brunei - 2,5 suicides (4,2 among men and 0,8 among women)
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