The community spirit in our villages, so vibrant previously, is slowly but surely dying.

_Our streets are deserted. The dwindling birthrate is alarming. There is talk of closing the primary schools in the small villages and of transferring the students to Victoria.

Most of our young men are gone from the villages and are working and living in Malta. They simply cannot reside in their village where they were born and bred.

In fact, it is not just a question of finding an appropriate place of work but also of acquiring a decent place in which to set up home.

At least a third of our village buildings are empty, and only real estate speculators can afford to take them up. Almost none of them are available for our young men.

From the Times of Malta, an article about the dying of Gozo, the north island.

I’m guessing there probably isn’t a pressing need to tell the Gozitans not “to breed like rabbits.” I’m pretty sure their bishops have already covered it.

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