Four out of five Irish people report good health, research shows

Four out of five Irish people report being in good health, the highest level in the European Union.

However, recent research found there was a large gap between the richest and the poorest groups in the country, when it came to people reporting that they were healthy.

The State of Health in the EU research found that while nine out of ten Irish people in the highest income bracket reported being in good health, only two thirds of those in the lowest income group did so.

The research said some 35 per cent of deaths in Ireland were linked to risk factors, such as smoking, poor diet, lack of exercise, or alcohol. It said smoking was linked to a fifth of deaths in Ireland, which was slightly higher than the EU average of 17 per cent of deaths.

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The report said the rate of adolescents smoking tobacco was “comparatively low” in Ireland and had been continuing to decline over time.

The figures show that a higher rate of Irish people reported that they were obese, at 21 per cent, than the measured rates of obesity. It said Ireland was the only EU country where “self-reported obesity rates exceeded measured ones”.

While Ireland had higher rates of heavy alcohol drinking than the EU average, the rate had declined in recent years.

The research said in 2019 Ireland had the highest proportion of adults who ate five servings of fruit and vegetables in the EU, at nearly 33 per cent of those surveyed.

[ Ireland most expensive in EU for consumer goods, Eurostat finds ]

Vaccine uptake in Ireland was well above the European average, with 96 per cent being vaccinated against Covid-19. The research said Ireland reported a lower number of Covid-19 deaths in 2020 than the EU average.

The research said that while on average 7 per cent of people in the EU self reported suffering from depression, the rate in Ireland was less than 4 per cent. The report is based on data each EU country provides to Eurostat, the European statistics agency, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

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