This research is about population groups whose presence is thought to be “redundant” and undesirable and the state actions such a belief induced. In Malta, the most densely populated country in the European Union, the claim that the local population would exceed the productive capacity of the island is ancient. Yet, the lines between the human presences that are deemed to be legitimate and those considered to be “redundant” are continuously shifting. In this dissertation, I argue that these dynamics take their roots in the changing understandings of the “needs” of the economy and of the role the state is expected to play in the management of production.This contribution hence explores actors’ competitive evaluations of the usefulness of populations on the island, in the context of the rapid transformations of local capitalism. Through interviews, observation, and archival analysis, it highlights the various solutions governing authorities invent to cope with the “human surplus” they think to detect within the country. From the emigration programs destined for the Maltese poor in the 20th century, to today’s deportation of persons in exile, the state’s undertaking aims first at achieving the subtraction of populations. Recently, local authorities have also proceeded to the addition of new populations meant to remain separated from the local political community: the growing size of foreign labor on the island and the incentives for persons in exile to work are both part of this late endeavor. Such governmental operations, however, remained unachieved. It is precisely from the gap between society as it is, and the community as political authorities believe it should be, that “redundant” people are doomed to continuously reappear.