An analysis : financial literacy amongst women of Maltese nationality

M.A.(Melit.) ; Financial literacy is a crucial skill which helps people make educated financial decisions, manage risks, plan for retirement, avoid scams and handle cost-of-living issues. This study focused on analysing the financial literacy of Maltese women aged 18 or over to investigate the extent to which the global trend of lower financial literacy among women applies to Malta. Through questionnaires, this study aimed to assess financial literacy and digital skills among Maltese women, examine the influence of socio-demographic factors, evaluate their financial well-being, and identify recurring challenges through retesting by comparing current findings with previous data. The questionnaire was created using the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)’s toolkit which was an effort made to have a standardised way of measuring financial literacy. This study provided new updated data on the financial literacy of Maltese women by retesting previous questions as well as introduced new ones that have never been asked or investigated in Malta before, including questions on digital financial literacy, risk, inflation, and diversification. The findings suggest that although Maltese women’s financial literacy skills surpass the OECD average, hence, appearing to have high financial literacy at a surface level, a significant gap persists, with only a limited percentage achieving perfect scores, indicating a need for greater focus on specific financial categories. Only a limited number achieved the minimum target score in digital financial literacy, highlighting deficiencies in digital practices such as cybersecurity awareness. Moreover, financial well-being scores were moderate, highlighting the necessity of financial education, especially in fostering long-term planning and resilience for future financial stability. Recognising these areas for development is essential, since financial literacy enables individuals to make educated financial decisions. Enhancing financial literacy not only increases ...