Brussels, 06/03/2003 (Agence Europe) - To coincide with events organised by the European Commission to celebrate International Women's Day, 8 March 2003, the Statistical Office of the European Communities in Luxembourg (Eurostat) has published tables of statistics showing various demographic, economic and socio-cultural characteristics on women in the EU, highlighting the similarities and differences compared to men.
The main conclusions are: 1. Demography: Irish and French women are those who have the most children in the EU, with respective fertility rates (the mean number of children born alive to a woman during her childbearing years) in 2001 of 1.98 and 1.90 (compared to 1.25 in Spain and 1.24 in Italy, the lowest rates in the EU); 2. Education: in 2002, 36% of women in Finland and 33% in Ireland have completed tertiary education (the highest rates in the EU), against just 11% in Portugal and 10% in Italy (representing the lowest percentages); 3. Tertiary education: Women prefer Medical Sciences, Literature and Education, and men Engineering and Sciences. Social Sciences is the most popular field for both; 4. Employment: Nearly three-quarters of Dutch women (72.8%) worked part-time in 2002, as did 44% of women in the UK. The lowest figures for women working part-time in the EU were those from Greece (8.1%); 5. Family: UK women have their first child the oldest (average age: 29.1), Austrian (26.4) and Portuguese (26.4) the youngest (2000 figures); 6. Cultural activities: In 2001, more women read books and magazines, went to the theatre and took part in artistic activities. Men read more newspapers, surfed the Internet, and went to the cinema or sporting events; 7. Health: fewer women smoke, they spend less on alcohol, and fewer women are treated for drugs problems (1996 figures). For more information, go to http: //europa.eu.int/comm/eurostat/