The Maltese islands are densely populated. With a quick look at the landscape one immediately realises that one village almost blends into another. Presently the Maltese population amounts to circa 370 thousand. By world standards Malta is infinitely small - it seems to be just a very small city. However this must be considered in ratio to the islands’ size. Open spaces are extremely rare and green areas even rarer.

There are 67 villages which have a local council; 53 in Malta and 14 in Gozo.

The villages have a very distinct and pleasant feature. The old villages have a baroque church built in their centres. The parish church occupies a central and dominant position in the structure of old villages such as Tarxien, Gudja, Dingli, Zejtun and Ghaxaq.