Two-thirds of the land built up since 1990 was outside development zones, according to the National Statistics Office.
Only 64.1 square kilometres of Malta’s 315 square kilometres were built up in 1990. However, more and more has been built in the ensuing years.
By 2015, another 10.5 square kilometres had been built up within development zones, and a further 25.6 square kilometres from outside development zones.
This has shifted the percentage of built up areas in ODZ from just about 24 per cent of all developed land in 1990, to 40.8 per cent in 2015.
The amount of Malta and Gozo that is now built up (irrespective of whether it was in development zones or not) has also crept up significantly, from 20.3 per cent of the total surface area to 32.3 per cent.
The amount of land taken up by landfills and quarries – 3.6 square kilometres – has not changed over the decades, according to the NSO.