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Latest comment: 14 hours ago by Wikipedian12512(alt) in topic GA review
Former good article nomineeMalta was a Geography and places good articles nominee, but did not meet the good article criteria at the time. There may be suggestions below for improving the article. Once these issues have been addressed, the article can be renominated. Editors may also seek a reassessment of the decision if they believe there was a mistake.
On this day... Article milestones
DateProcessResult
November 15, 2005Peer reviewReviewed
March 7, 2011Good article nomineeNot listed
September 21, 2026Peer reviewReviewed
On this day... Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on September 21, 2004, December 13, 2004, September 21, 2005, September 8, 2006, September 21, 2006, December 13, 2006, September 8, 2007, September 21, 2007, December 13, 2007, September 21, 2008, December 13, 2008, September 21, 2009, December 13, 2009, September 21, 2010, December 13, 2010, September 21, 2011, December 13, 2011, September 21, 2012, December 13, 2012, September 21, 2013, and December 13, 2013.
Current status: Former good article nominee

"Repubblika ta'Malta" listed at Redirects for discussion

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The redirect Repubblika ta'Malta has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2026 May 20 § Repubblika ta'Malta until a consensus is reached. 𝔅𝔦𝔰-𝔖𝔢𝔯𝔧𝔢𝔱𝔞? 18:25, 20 May 2026 (UTC)Reply

political bias

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I am new to Wikipedia rules but the text in the government section, specifically the one about corruption rising after a return to power seems politically motivated. Beldro Mercier (talk) 03:21, 14 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

I have removed it because the source was an opinion piece, which is not a suitable source for the claim. Thank you. Traumnovelle (talk) 05:12, 14 July 2026 (UTC)Reply

Peer review

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Previous peer review


I've listed this article for peer review because I’m planning to bring it up to GA (and later, maybe FA). Any feedback is fine, be it prose quibbles, citation problems, image requests, whatever. I’d like some help with the citations (no idea how to format pdfs), and if something failed verification, I’ll replace it. Thanks! In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 22:40, 8 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Pinging people who gave advice on this article on a different venue: @Moxy, @Chipmunkdavis In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 15:32, 9 August 2026 (UTC)Reply
CMD recommended a shortening of the history section, all parts there are 2-4 paragraphs and grouped as well as I can in sections. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 00:32, 29 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Comments from Z1720

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@Wikipedian12512: Comments after a quick skim:

  • I added some citation needed tags. These would need to be resolved before a GAN.
  • For a GA, the formatting and information is probably fine. For a FAC, there are some sections that need more information like "Sport", "Music", "Architecture", and "Banking and finance". This will be difficult because the article is already at over 9,000 words so, as these are expanded, consider where you could summarise more effectively elsewhere in the article. For example, the "Art" section is quite long, and maybe could be spun out into "Art of Malta" or something similar.
  • I also think some of the sections in "Culture" can be merged together to avoid MOS:OVERSECTION, like "Art and architecture" and "Literature and media".
  • There are lots of short, one or two-sentence paragraphs in the article. For a GAN these are OK but consider merging these together before an FAC.
  • Not sure if "Vassallo History", "Geocities.com" and "weather2travel.com" are reliable sources.

Hope this helps. Z1720 (talk) 22:10, 11 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Got it. I’ll work on those when I’m back from vacation. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 07:08, 12 August 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Z1720: I’m having some trouble finding the unreliable sources. Can you replace them with citation needed tags? In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:22, 31 August 2026 (UTC)Reply
Done with the comments. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 16:39, 1 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

Comments from Femke

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No time for a full review, but happy to look into the climate and energy sections

  • The climate text is quite heavy with numbers, which is exaccerbated by the conversions. Unfortunately, the conversions are in line with MOS:CONVERSION, so you likely shouldn't remove the US-specific units. So the second-best option is to reduce the overlap with the table underneath and mention fewer numbers.
  • There are some dead links: the Meteo Climat source of the table I cannot access for instance, so find a newer link, or if that proves impossible, set it to the archived link (the existing archive link doesn't show the data for me)
  • The source for the 'latest snow' is from 2014, so logically cannot give any information about whether they're been snow since
  • The section misses all information about climate change. In the mediterannean more broadly, that includes quite a strong drying effect, as well as an increase in heatwaves. Does Malta have low-lying areas vulnerable to sea level rise?
  • The information about the climate classification is from 2007. Probably still correct, but may have changed due to climate change.
  • Citation 232 contains three citations, all very long. Can you specify which citation supports which information, and what pages you looked at?
  • 9.2% of Malta's electricity in 2024 was from domestic renewable generation, almost all of which is photovoltaic panels -> Don't start a sentence with a number, and fix the grammatical issue with the second bit of the sentence. I haven't been able to find the percentage after 3 minutes of examining the source. Can you be specific where you found this number? I assume it's a WP:CALC from table 1? I get 10.92% for 2023, which would round to 11%.
  • You're posing this as a contrast, implying that Malta is not doing its bit to reach 25% by 2030. With a small country like that, weather fluctuations, or even planned outages, can explain small variations in year-to-year production. If the source does not make this contrast explicit, I would not include it in the article. Instead, mention the most recent number, and leave it be
  • Offshore platforms is jargon, make this (floating) offshore wind and link
  • Link to solar PV, and find a link for waste-to-energy plant.
  • Overall, I would recommend you try to be more precise with sources, check if they are still working, and add table, figure and page numbers where possible to make verification simpler. In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 06:57, 3 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks! I’ll work on these when I have time. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:10, 3 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Femke: The reason that the 2014 one is outdated is that there hasn’t been snow since. There’s been some hail in 2026, but all I can find in the times of Malta is that it hasn’t snowed in a very long time. It only snowed for ~2 minutes in some parts of the country. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:52, 4 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Do you understand there is a bit of an WP:original research element to this statement? You have yourself searched for news about snow, and because there weren't any news articles on the topic, you concluded that 2014 was the last time. Can you find a source that says that it only snowed on X occasions between two dates (e.g. between 1960 and 2010). In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 19:56, 4 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Femke: I do, but I can’t find any sources that are all of recent, reliable, and say exactly what is needed. I can find sources that are a combination of any two of those, (https://hellomaltatours.com/snow-in-malta/, the ones in the text supporting the 2014 snowfall, and https://timesofmalta.com/article/heavy-hail-blankets-parts-malta.1122638). In order to check to see if I’ve missed something in nine pages of google results, I asked both ChatGPT and Gemini (not ideal, but, if there was something, it might have given me the right keywords to independently verify). I’ve tried many different combinations of keywords to try to find something that fits all three categories, to no avail. I feel that the fact that at least three newspapers from the times of Malta alone about 2 minutes of snow in a very small area, and the many more articles about the January 2026 hail should give a solid guess that they would publish about another snow. I’ve been spending an absurd amount of time trying to prove a negative. If need be, I’ll turn the claim into a different one (i.e., “Snow in Malta is very rare, but it has happened[whatever ref here]”). In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:22, 4 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
(Sorry if the tone comes off wrong, I just am annoyed at all the reference rules cutting off most of the social media things (plenty from the Times of Malta, but not sure on the reliability of such claims, and I’ve still found nothing, at least that I can see.) In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 21:27, 4 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
It's a common problem, and that's why these types of claims are rare. The statement snow is very rare is probably a good one to include. You don't even have to say when it happened last? The sources you have contradict each other (2014 or earlier). In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 07:50, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for the input! In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 14:28, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks so much for the thorough review! It really helped me improve the climate and energy sections! In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 17:17, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Normally, when people provide you a review, the best way to respond is to reply bullet point by bullet point. That way, it's easier to engage in dialogue. For instance, you've decided to cover different topics for the climate change subsection. I don't know if a subsection is necessary but:
  • The section is still too number-heavy
Replaced ranges with the arithmetic mean of the two endpoints and added “around”, I think that makes it a bit better. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:10, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
  • The drying trend is likely important when talking about climate change impacts. The mediterannean is a drying hotspot and it's very possible Malta is also experiencing this trend
I’ve added a sentence. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:10, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
The sentence you added is about weather (dry summers in recent years), so it doesn't fit in the climate change section and is too much recentism. Can you find a source about the trend instead? In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 08:20, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Done. Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 17:44, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Given the access-date of your new source, did you copy this from another article? Copying content within Wikipedia requires attribution in an edit summary (see WP:CWW). The paper seems to give a suspiciously precise number for the reduction in rainfall. Furthermore, it's published in mdpi, a journal club many people do not trust as reliable. In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 18:09, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Femke: Huh. I didn’t copy it from another article, it just seems to have gotten the date wrong. Fine if I change it to use this: https://energywateragency.gov.mt/water-scarcity-and-drought-conditions-in-the-maltese-islands/ instead? Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 18:40, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Looks like a good source! In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 18:46, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for all your help! In the future, do you mind if you ping me? I’m watching the peer review, but not getting notifications. Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 18:52, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
  • I would not add quotes, they get outdated fast. The quote you added is taken out of context; you make the prime minister sound like a climate denier, by implying he thinks climate change is an opportunity. The article instead talks about how the energy transition is an opportunity for Malta
Fixed. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:10, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Replaced with yours and worked with a newfound parameter in convert In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 02:10, 6 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Got it. Thanks! In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:17, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Femke: How do you suggest making the section less number-y? In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:38, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
You can compare it to the text at Indonesia#Climate and China#Geography. Both of them have a much more narrative style of what the climate is actually like in a day-to-day sense. In solidarity, —Femke (talk) 🐦 19:51, 5 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

on "History - Prehistory" section

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Mr. Wkipedian12512, Thank you for reviewing.

The points I was concerned about are "these animals" and "no such animals" in the second sentence("However, this seems...").

>Malta has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, with the arrival >of Mesolithic era hunter-gatherers, which likely came from Sicily.[25] >However, this seems unlikely as recent work suggests these animals >went extinct many thousands of years before the arrival of the first people,[26] >and no such animals were found in association with the earliest known >Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.[27] The claim for an earlier occupation of >the island by Neanderthals is widely rejected.[27]

It seems that there is no description corresponding "these" and "such". So I imported a sentence including descriptions for "these" / "such" animals (that had been extinct) from the article "History of Malta".

muransky (talk) 13:22, 11 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Malta Prehistory

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Missing Text

This section seems to have lost some text. As of 8:15PM EDT on August 11, it begins as follows:

"Malta has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, with the arrival of Mesolithic era hunter-gatherers, which likely came from Sicily.[25] However, this seems unlikely as recent work suggests these animals went extinct many thousands of years before the arrival of the first people,[26] and no such animals were found in association with the earliest known Mesolithic hunter-gatherers."

The second sentence's reference to "these animals" lacks an antecedent. There is no prior reference to animals hunted by the first human inhabitants. A description of them needs to be restored.

P.S. - couldn't log in because system did not send me verification code. ~2026-44044-68 (talk) 00:20, 12 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Sorry. I meant to remove all of that (I removed the first bit) for weight reasons. I must have missed it. Thanks! In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 03:51, 14 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

Plague

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Missing is any mention of the 1813-1814 plague: 1813–1814 Malta plague epidemic. Kdammers (talk) 01:35, 22 August 2026 (UTC)Reply

This is a broad topic, so all information is basic. In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 17:38, 1 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

GA review

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This review is transcluded from Talk:Malta/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Nominator: Wikipedian12512 (talk · contribs) 22:01, 21 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

Reviewer: Generalissima (talk · contribs) 00:27, 22 September 2026 (UTC)Reply


Ooh, another country article! I'll try to give this one a look over the coming days. Generalissima (talk) (it/she) 00:27, 22 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks! I’m glad for a familiar face. Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 11:24, 22 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
@Generalissima: Just making sure you remember, fine if you need more time. Cheers, In solidarityUser:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 16:21, 2 October 2026 (UTC)Reply

Lead

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  • It consists of an archipelago which is 80 km (50 mi) south of Italy, 284 km (176 mi) east of Tunisia, and 333 km (207 mi) north of Libya The distances clutter up the lede a bit, and I don't think they're needed right here. Restating that it is an archipelago is a bit unnecessary when we already say its an island country. Perhaps the first sentence could be something like "Malta [...] is an island country located in the central Mediterranean Sea between Italy, Tunis, and Libya."? And instead of "it consists of an archipelago", we could say "It consists of two main islands, Malta and Gozo."?
  • "which is the smallest capital city in the European Union by both area and population this would be a good line in the article on Valletta, but I don't think this information is due weight in the lead for the country itself.
  • and the 166th most populated Not needed for the lede.
  • Various sources consider the country to consist of a single urban region, for which it is often described as a city-state. Why does this need to be attributed? We can just say "It is often described as a city-state", much simpler.
  • Paragraph on history is good.
    • Wikilink Allies. Also, I don't think you need to specify it was a base "for North Africa and the Mediterranean"; its location makes that somewhat obvious.
  • freedom of conscience and religious worship can simplify to "freedom of religion".
  • Nowadays unneeded

Etymology

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  • Unsure if the mini-paragraph about the use of "Malta" in English is needed.

History

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  • 6500-8000 BC - should be 8000-6500 BC, no?
  • The claim for an occupation of the island by Neanderthals is widely rejected If it's widely-rejected, it probably shouldn't be mentioned here.
  • Give rough dates for the Neolithic
  • A common occupation of megalithic temple-building came later This sentence reads a little weird to me, like that people's jobs were to build megalithic temples.
  • Also, either arising from or supplanting the previous culture is a bit meaningless, because it’s not like there are other options beyond these two.
Actually, wait. I’m going to self revert; we should figure this out. There are a bunch of important words here. It must be standing, so this rules out things that have collapsed, are underwater, etc.. It must be free-standing, so anything that relies on non-stone for support on anything other than a relatively flat ground doesn’t count. It also must be a structure, so it has to consist of multiple stones reliant on each other. Çatalhöyük doesn’t count, it is mudbrick. The last two you said are debatable in these criteria; one could give an argument that they aren’t free standing because some of the pillars are slotted into the ground.
In the timeline part of megalith, I can’t see anything satisfying all of those before Malta. Am I missing something? Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 19:20, 22 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
Sorry, when adding to Wikipedia, in order to avoid copyright troubles, I changed the words there a bit, adding partial ambiguity. I’ve changed the wording to something more clear. Cheers, In solidarity Wikipedian12512 (Talking is fine | contribs) 22:30, 22 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
To be more clear, the requirements are that it is megalithic, standing, free-standing, and a structure. Sorry that my entire reasoning is a mess. Cheers, In solidarityUser:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 15:43, 23 September 2026 (UTC)Reply
  • the island fell back into the hands of Carthage This reads too flowery. "returned to Carthaginian control" maybe?
  • the Roman consul named Tiberius Sempronius Longus I know you wanna avoid sea of blue, but you can instead say "Tiberius Sempronius Longus, a Roman consul".
  • During the Migration Period as the Western Roman Empire declined I think "As the Western Roman Empire declined during the Migration Period," would read better
  • Briefly introduce the Vandals and Ostrogoths as Germanic tribes
  • Introduce Belisarius
  • Malta's religious allegiance oscillated between the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople this predates the East–West Schism, no? Correct me if I'm wrong, but this seems to be a relatively minor issue of church hierarchy rather than proper religious affiliation prior to the schism
  • Malta became involved in the Arab–Byzantine wars, and the conquest of Malta is linked with the Muslim conquest of Sicily that began in 827 after Admiral Euphemius' betrayal of his fellow Byzantines, requesting that the Aghlabids invade the island Weirdly passive tone here, while "betrayal of his fellow Byzantines" is very opinionated and non-neutral. Rewrite this section.
  • Specify the Banu Matkud were Berber
  • Christian captives also not neutral language
  • but its trade destroyed this is gramatically incorrect; it's also unclear what it means, give context on it.

Order of religions in pie chart

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The pie chart depicting percentages of religious belief has religions listed out of order. I'm unsure if the chart is going by size of percentage, or grouping certain religions together; either way, it needs to be adjusted. 4Valletta (talk) 02:33, 23 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

How so? It lists religions in order of size, with Christian denominations grouped together to allow easier visualisation of overall christianity. Traumnovelle (talk) 05:40, 23 September 2026 (UTC)Reply

Requested copy edit completed

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Editors who may have worked on this article and others interested: I've just completed the requested copy edit of the article that was made to the Guild of Copy Editors awhile back. Please be aware that when we work on requested copy edits, it's not expected that we check facts or references … unless we choose to.

I'd like to share a few things that I did in the copy edit, along with some related suggestions, which I will do as soon as possible, hopefully later in the day. Augnablik 19:35, 1 October 2026 (UTC)Reply

Thanks! Cheers, In solidarityUser:Wikipedian12512(alt) (Talking is fine | contribs) 16:19, 2 October 2026 (UTC)Reply