Perception and Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Residents of Malta †
Simple Summary
Abstract
1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Questionnaire
- Sociodemographic information and purchasing habits: This section gathered data on respondents’ demographics (rural or urban area, gender, age, education level, income, and household size). It also asked about the frequency and types of meat consumed.
- Knowledge of animal welfare: Respondents rated their perceived level of knowledge regarding animal welfare and listed the sources from which they obtained this knowledge. This section also investigated the perceived effects on animal welfare of some farming aspects (e.g., sufficient space, humane slaughtering) and knowledge about animal protection legislation.
- Perception of animal welfare: Participants were asked to express how they perceived the welfare level of several farm animal species.
- Purchasing behaviour: This last part asked questions about purchasing decisions, including the importance of animal welfare when buying animal products and the perceived need and specific expectations about animal welfare labelling.
2.2. Questionnaire Administration
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
3.1. Descriptive Analysis
3.2. Class Distribution Analysis
3.3. Cluster Analysis
4. Discussion
4.1. Descriptive Analysis
4.2. Class Distribution Analysis
4.3. Cluster Analysis
4.4. General Considerations
5. Conclusions
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Class | Percentage |
---|---|
Gender | |
Female | 48.7 |
Male | 50.8 |
Other | 0.3 |
Prefer not to say | 0.3 |
Age | |
15–24 | 23.2 |
25–39 | 38.3 |
40–54 | 21.4 |
Over 55 | 16.7 |
Prefer not to say | 0.5 |
Household size | |
1–2 | 30.0 |
3–4 | 57.3 |
5+ | 12.8 |
Education | |
Non-formal education | 1.8 |
Basic (able to read and write) | 14.6 |
Secondary (obtained O levels) | 17.5 |
Post-Secondary (obtained A levels) | 28.1 |
Tertiary (graduated from university) | 38.0 |
Employment | |
Employee | 67.2 |
Business owner/freelance | 9.9 |
Retired | 6.0 |
Homemaker | 3.7 |
Unoccupied | 5.2 |
Student | 8.1 |
Annual household income (€) | |
<10,000 | 3.4 |
11,000–20,000 | 7.8 |
21,000–35,000 | 18.5 |
36,000–50,000 | 21.1 |
51,000–75,000 | 7.8 |
>75,000 | 6.0 |
prefer not to say | 35.7 |
Area | |
Urban | 72.7 |
Rural | 27.3 |
Question: Would you support the introduction of a national welfare label? | |||||||
Occupation | |||||||
Answer | Student | Employee | Business owner/freelance | Retired | Homemaker | Unoccupied | Fisher’s exact test |
Yes | 87 | 87 | 79 | 78 | 93 | 80 | G2 = 24.7 p = 0.006 |
No | 0 | 4 | 21 | 9 | 0 | 5 | |
Don’t know | 13 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 15 | |
Question: Perceived level of welfare of farm animals raised in Malta | |||||||
Living area | |||||||
Answer | Rural | Urban | Chi-squared statistic | ||||
Don’t know | 8 | 5 | χ2 = 12.1 p = 0.034 | ||||
Poor | 10 | 12 | |||||
Just acceptable | 22 | 32 | |||||
Medium | 33 | 37 | |||||
Good | 25 | 13 | |||||
Excellent | 3 | 1 | |||||
Question: Would you support the introduction of a national welfare label? | |||||||
Living area | |||||||
Answer | Rural | Urban | Chi-squared statistic | ||||
Yes | 81 | 87 | χ2 = 8.73 p = 0.013 | ||||
No | 11 | 4 | |||||
Don’t know | 8 | 9 | |||||
Question: Can your consumer choices affect the welfare of farm animals? | |||||||
Living area | |||||||
Answer | Rural | Urban | Fisher’s exact test | ||||
Yes, certainly | 25 | 85 | G2 = 20.1 p < 0.001 | ||||
Yes, probably | 46 | 145 | |||||
No, probably not | 10 | 24 | |||||
No, certainly not | 0 | 9 | |||||
Don’t know | 19 | 16 | |||||
Willingness to pay more for animal-friendly foods | |||||||
Gender | |||||||
Answer | Female | Male | Chi-squared statistic | ||||
No | 19 | 20 | χ2 = 36.7 p = 0.006 | ||||
Up to 5% | 17 | 22 | |||||
6–10% | 21 | 14 | |||||
11–20% | 10 | 8 | |||||
More than 20% | 4 | 3 | |||||
Depends on the price | 24 | 29 | |||||
Don’t know | 5 | 4 |
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Gemma, P.; Nannoni, E.; Padalino, B.; Peli, A.; Alexander, F.L.; Buonaiuto, G.; Sardi, L.; Martelli, G. Perception and Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Residents of Malta. Animals 2025, 15, 1634. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15111634
Gemma P, Nannoni E, Padalino B, Peli A, Alexander FL, Buonaiuto G, Sardi L, Martelli G. Perception and Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Residents of Malta. Animals. 2025; 15(11):1634. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15111634
Chicago/Turabian StyleGemma, Pantaleo, Eleonora Nannoni, Barbara Padalino, Angelo Peli, Francesco Luca Alexander, Giovanni Buonaiuto, Luca Sardi, and Giovanna Martelli. 2025. "Perception and Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Residents of Malta" Animals 15, no. 11: 1634. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15111634
APA StyleGemma, P., Nannoni, E., Padalino, B., Peli, A., Alexander, F. L., Buonaiuto, G., Sardi, L., & Martelli, G. (2025). Perception and Awareness of Animal Welfare Among Residents of Malta. Animals, 15(11), 1634. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani15111634