A NEW report on quality of life in the Republic has identified the west as the best-performing region in a variety of categories.
Some of the highest Leaving Certificate results, the most blue flag beaches and lowest driver penalty points, can be found in western counties.
But the report from the Central Statistics Office, based on the 2006 census, found that Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Wicklow were still the most affluent counties.
The midlands was among the most underachieving regions.
Entitled Regional Quality of Life in Ireland, the report confirmed much of what might have been suspected - that the east coast enjoys the highest density of homes, the highest concentrations of graduates, and is the place where people were most likely to perceive their health options to be "very good.
But it concludes the education benefits in the west are significant, with a much lower number of primary pupils per school and a higher concentration of counties delivering top grades at senior level.
For example, the counties which scored the highest percentage of higher level, A grade in Leaving Certificate papers, were jointly Dublin and Cork at 16.7 per cent.
But they were followed by Limerick 14.9 per cent; Galway 14.3 per cent and Kerry 14.2 per cent, suggesting a cluster of high achievement along the western seaboard.
But the Border region at 9.9 per cent and the midlands region at 10.1 per cent had the lowest proportions of A grades.
The midlands, at 22.7 per cent, also had the lowest rate of people with third-level qualifications. The highest was Dublin at 35.9 per cent. Dublin fared best for broadband connectivity - 53 per cent of households had a computer with broadband access. The midlands fared worst, with just 22 per cent having broadband.
In terms of beaches, Mayo (13), Kerry (13), Donegal (11), and Cork (10), accounted for more then half of the State's Blue Flag beaches. The midlands had two. The mid-west, which includes Limerick, Clare and south Tipperary, had no Blue Flag beaches while Dublin had four.
In affluence terms, in 2006, the Border and midlands regions had the highest at-risk-of-poverty rates at 28.2 per cent compared with 9.9 per cent in Dublin and 11.2 per cent in the mid-east region of Kildare, Meath and Wicklow.
In the 2006 census, 15 per cent of all accommodation across the State was vacant. Leitrim and Donegal had almost one third of all homes empty on census night. Counties along the west coast and Wexford had rates above 20 per cent.
But while the east coast scored consistently high in terms of achievement indicators, the report also found 30 per cent of commuters in the mid-east region travelled at least 25km (15.5 miles) to work. Some 10.6 per cent of them left for work before 6.30am while a further 28.8 per cent left before 7.30am.
The highest percentages of drivers with penalty points were in the Dublin and mid-east regions, with 17.7 per cent and 16.4 per cent of drivers carrying points.
Galway city had 17.4 per cent of its population listed as foreign nationals, followed by Dublin city at 17.2 per cent. The Fingal area had 15.6 per cent.