Why did many Maltese people emigrate after World War II?

Following World War II, many Maltese people emigrated primarily due to high levels of unemployment on the islands.1

To address this economic challenge, the government actively encouraged and even financed mass emigration. Between 1945 and the mid-1970s, approximately 150,000 individuals left Malta and Gozo to settle in English-speaking nations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. This period of significant population outflow eventually tapered off by the 1990s, a time when many expatriates began returning to their homeland.1