The highest point is at Ta' Dmejrek on Malta Island at 253 metres (830 ft) near Dingli. Although there are some small rivers at times of high rainfall, there are no permanent rivers or lakes on Malta.
Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean Sea (in its eastern basin), some 93 km south of the Italian island of Sicily across the Malta Channel; east of Tunisia and north of Libya in Africa. Only the three largest islands Malta Island (Malta), Gozo (Ghawdex), and Comino (Kemmuna) are inhabited. The smaller islands, such as Filfla, Cominotto and the Islands of St. Paul are uninhabited. Numerous bays along the indented coastline of the islands provide good harbours. The landscape is characterised by low hills with terraced fields.
However some watercourses are found randomly around the island that have fresh water running all year round. Such places are Bahrija, Imtahleb and San Martin. Running water in Gozo is found at Lunzjata Valley.
Contrary to popular belief, the south of Malta is not Europe's most southern point; that distinction belongs to the Greek island of Gavdos. It is even clear that the whole famous Greek island of Crete is more southern than any point of Malta.
A census of population and housing is held every ten years. The last census was held over three weeks in November 2005 and managed to enumerate an estimated 95% of the population. A preliminary report was issued in April 2006, and results were weighted to an estimate for 100% of the population.
The resident population of Malta, which includes foreigners residing in Malta for at least a year, as at 27 November 2005 was estimated at 404,039 of whom 200,715 (49.7%) were males and 203,324 (50.3%) were females. Of these, 17.1 per cent were aged 14 and under, 68.2 per cent were within the 15–64 age bracket whilst the remaining 13.7 per cent were 65 years and over. Malta's population density of 1,282 per square kilometre (3,322/sq mi) is by far the highest in the EU, and one of the highest in the world. The only census year showing a fall in population was that of 1967, with a 1.7% total decrease, attributable to a substantial number of Maltese residents who emigrated.[5] The Maltese-resident population for 2004 was estimated to make up 97.0% of the total resident population.