Despite their high levels of alcohol consumption, Irish people believe they have a healthier lifestyle than most of their European neighbours. Joe Humphreys reports.
Some 86 per cent of those questioned for a 1999 Eurobarometer survey said they believed their lifestyle was healthy, the third-highest rate in the EU.
Some 86 per cent also said they ate a balanced diet, the second-highest rate in the Union.
This was despite the fact that daily calorie consumption in Ireland was the highest in Europe after Portugal and Greece, at almost 750 kilocalories above the recommended dietary allowance of 2,900 kcal.
The Eurostat report highlights other areas where public perceptions of the state of Irish health fail to match reality.
On exercise, the Irish claimed to be more diligent, with 65 per cent of respondents to the 1999 survey proclaiming to engage in physical activity at least twice a week, the third-highest rate in Europe. In a 1998 survey, 45.7 per cent of Irish people said they had very good health, the second-highest rate in the EU.
However, other figures show Ireland has average, or higher than average, rates of illness in several categories, including cancer and certain diseases that are preventable by vaccination.
In 2001, for example, there were 6.3 cases of measles per 10,000 population, the fourth-highest rate in the EU.
There was better news on diabetes, with Ireland showing "by far the lowest proportion" of diabetics in Europe at just 2.7 per cent of the population, compared to an EU average of 4.1 per cent.
The Irish, however, were found to be marginally more stressed than most Europeans, with 38.3 per cent saying they felt regularly stressed in 1999 compared to an EU average of 35.3 per cent.
The report found the largest proportions of stressed people were aged 25-39 in all member-states except in the Netherlands and Germany, where they were aged 15-24, and in France, Ireland and Italy, where they were aged 40-54.
Life expectancy in Ireland was lower than the EU average. According to figures for 2000, Irish men lived 1.1 fewer years than their European counterparts, and Irish women 2.2 fewer years.
Irish fertility rates, however, remained the highest in the EU despite falling from 3.76 births per woman in 1960 to 1.98 in 2001. Ireland also had the highest crude birth rate at 14.3 births per 1,000 population in 2000.
On migration, Ireland had the second-largest net inflow per head of population in Europe in 1998. The largest net inflow per capita was in Luxembourg.
The report noted that net inward migration accounted for most of a population increase of 12.7 million in the EU between 1990 and 2000.