Irish people die younger and have more children than other Europeans, according to figures released yesterday by the European Commission.Life expectancy in Ireland is lower both for women, at 78.5 years and for men, at 73 years, than in any other EU member-state.
The Swedes and the French live longest, with French women living to 83 and Swedish men to 77.5 years.
Irish people sing, dance and go to the cinema more often than other Europeans and we also spend a much greater part of our income on alcohol, with men spending almost 8 per cent of their income on drink and women spending 3 per cent of theirs in the pub.
Irish men spend more than twice as much on alcohol as our closest rivals, the Finns, and almost 10 times as much as Spaniards. Irish women are more fertile than their counterparts elsewhere in Europe, producing an average of 1.98 children each.
The Spanish have fewest babies - just 1.25 each. Irish women are also more likely than most other European women to occupy managerial positions, although Ireland is close to the bottom of the league in appointing women judges.
Just 16 per cent of Irish judges are women, compared to 51 per cent in Greece.
Ireland and the Netherlands are the only EU countries where fewer than 10 per cent of associate professors and fewer than 5 per cent of full professors are women.
But Irish women top the league as researchers in higher education, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the total. The figures were compiled by Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg.